Sworn to the Light
by SeerKing
Summary: A girl enters Duel Academy at the same time as Jaden and the gang. Who is she and what is her purpose?
1. Chapter 1

"Duel!" - Regular Speech

' _Tricky…_ ' - Thoughts

 **Chapter 1: Duel Academy Entrance Exam**

 _Exam Hall, Domino City_

Doctor Vellian Crowler gazed around the exam hall as the last few duels were wrapped up. Oh, he didn't actually care about them whatsoever, but he had to put on the façade for the watching parents and the like. Of all of the duellists who passed the exam today, the vast majority would be going into the Slifer Red or Ra Yellow dorms. The _true_ elite, those who scored in the top percentile AND had appropriately wealthy parents, would enter Obelisk Blue, HIS dorm.

He watched as Bastion Misawa defeated one of the Examiners using the Trap Card [Ring of Destruction], which he used to destroy his own monster, [Vorse Raider]. It cut his life points down to 1300 from 3200, but wiped out all of his opponent's life points.

It wasn't actually all that hard to defeat someone using the Test Decks which all Examiners were required to use, Crowler thought distastefully. All it required was a calm head, a lick of talent and some half-decent Duel Monsters Cards.

"Right, that's the last of them." Crowler said with barely-concealed relief, "Let's get packed up and back to Academy Island n-"

"Ahem." an attendant interrupted him, "'Doctor' Crowler, two applicants have just shown up to take their exams."

He hated it when people were so doubtful about him. He had a PhD in Duelling for crying out loud!

"Tell them to come back next year!" he snapped at the man, "If they can't be bothered to show up on time, they are obviously slackers!"

"But Doctor, I'm sure we can squeeze in two more applicants." one Examiner protested mildly, "We're half-an-hour ahead of schedule, so they aren't technically late even!"

"I said no! The last duel just ended!" Crowler growled petulantly, "To be late is the height of rudeness and I have no time for slackers, as you all should well know!"

Just then, Crowler's mobile phone started to ring. Muttering darkly to himself, the pale-faced man answered it without looking at the Caller ID.

"Yes, yes, who is it?!" he snapped grumpily before he froze upon hearing the voice on the other end, "Ch-Ch-chancellor Sheppard, sir!"

" _Crowler! I just rang to make sure everything's running smoothly over there!_ " the voice of the chancellor boomed over the phone.

"Gah!" Crowler managed to say.

" _We do not want a repeat of last year when you cut a third of the applicants for accidentally referring to you as 'Miss' or 'Mrs.'_ " Sheppard said firmly as he laid down the law, " _Anyway, just make sure every single applicant gets a fair shot!_ "

After his boss hung up, Crowler glowered menacingly at the phone.

' _Fine. The slacker newcomers will be given a 'fair' shot…for a given value of fair, anyway…hehehehe._ ' Crowler thought as he stood up. Time to show them not to underestimate Duel Academy.

 _The Stands_

-{ _Jaden Yuuki, please report to Duelling Field #4_ }-

"Looks like I'm up!" Jaden commented to Bastion Misawa and Syrus Truesdale. A girl seated next to Bastion, in a white hoodie with the hood up and covering her head, looked at him for a moment before returning her gaze to the Duelling Arena. She was the other latecomer.

"Hold on!" Bastion protested, "You say that I'm the SECOND-best Duellist here. Who's number one?"

"That'd be me, dude." Jaden replied with a grin as he walked off.

"Isn't he the interesting one…" Bastion mused aloud. He had neatly cut brown hair and a very calm attitude.

"I'll say." Syrus agreed. He was short, with messy blue hair.

A minute or two later, they spotted Jaden standing opposite a man in a long blue coat with a large Duel Disk attached to it.

"Who's that?" Syrus asked.

"Vellian Crowler, the Department Chair of Techniques at Duel Academy." the girl, silent until now spoke up, "He is also the man in charge of the Obelisk Blue Dorms. He supposedly had a PhD in Duelling."

As the duel got underway, it was revealed that Jaden used a deck full of warrior-type monsters, the series known as the Elemental Heroes, while Crowler used Machine-type monsters, the Ancient Gear series. Crowler then destroyed two cards he had just Set in the Magic/Trap Zone with the [Heavy Storm] Magic Card.

"Why'd he just destroy his own trap cards?" Syrus asked before two monsters appeared, "And where'd they come from."

"The cards Crowler destroyed were Trap Cards known as [Statue of the Wicked]." Bastion explained, "When it is destroyed while face-down on the field, it summons a 'Wicked Token' to the field. He destroyed two of them, so he gets two Token Monsters."

The girl spoke up again. "Testing Decks are not supposed to have a card as powerful as [Heavy Storm] in them. Crowler's cheating and using his own Deck."

"That would fit." Bastion conceded.

"And this proves it." the girl pointed at Crowler as he summoned an enormous monster by sacrificing the two tokens, "That is the [Ancient Gear Golem], a super rare and powerful card that Crowler is rumoured to possess in his Deck."

"Not good." Bastion commented.

[Ancient Gear Golem] reared back and attacked [Elemental Hero Wingman] with its attack, [Mechanical Melee], utterly destroying the weaker monster.

"Hey! Avian was in defensive mode, so why is Jaden losing so many life points?" Syrus asked in alarm as Jaden's life points were halved.

"It's [Ancient Gear Golem's] special effect." Bastion explained, "When it attacks a monster in Defence Mode and destroys it, the difference between [Ancient Gear Golem's] Attack Points and the target monster's defence points are deducted from the defence monster's owner's life points, which is two-thousand in this case as [Ancient Gear Golem] has 3000 Attack Points and Avian had only a thousand Defence Points."

"That attack power and special effect is the reason it is so sought after." the girl in the hoodie explained, "And the reason most people try to stop it from being summoned in the first place."

Down on the field, Jaden summoned what looked like a ball of fluff with chibi-wings on its back.

"Well, well…Jaden knows what he's doing here…" the girl said in amusement.

"Are you kidding? That thing will be squashed like a bug by [Ancient Gear Golem] in no time flat!" Syrus exclaimed, "Then Jaden can say bye-bye to the rest of his life points and Duel Academy!"

"Trust me on this." the girl said with a chuckle, "This Duel isn't over yet."

Sure enough, when [Ancient Gear Golem] smashed the fluff ball, nothing happened to Jaden's life points.

"That is the effect of the [Winged Kuriboh]. Once destroyed, the owning Duellist receives no damage for the rest of the turn." the girl said smugly, "Crowler really should keep up with the latest releases by Industrial Illusions."

Using the [Hero Signal] Trap Card, Jaden summoned a female monster this time, [Elemental Hero Burstinatrix]. Once Crowler ended his turn, Jaden drew and returned Avian to his hand before summoning him to the field.

"Ah…the main strategy of an Elemental Hero Deck." the girl nodded knowingly.

"What do you mean?" Syrus asked in confusion.

"Individually, each Elemental Hero is about average or below average in both attack or defence." the girl explained, "What makes them powerful are the numerous Fusion monsters that can be formed from them. Like that one."

Down on the field, Jaden had played the Magic Card [Polymerisation] and fused his two Heroes together to become a single, more powerful one, [Elemental Hero Flame Wingman].

"If he actually pulls off a successful attack with that monster, Crowler is finished." Bastion stated, "[Flame Wingman] deals the Attack Points of any monster it destroys as damage to the monster's owner. Since he used [Confiscation] near the start, it would wipe him out."

"Yeah, but Jaden's monster falls short by 900 points for a draw." Syrus pointed out.

"Not for long. He just played a Field magic Card, [Skyscraper]." the girl pointed it out. The entire field, except where [Ancient Gear Golem] stood, was covered in tall buildings.

"Odd. Neither monster seems to have been effected by it." Bastion commented.

"That's because [Skyscraper] only effects Elemental Heroes and only when they attack a monster stronger than they are." the girl replied, "It raises their attack points by a thousand. Meaning…"

"Crowler's lost the duel!" Bastion realised with eyes wide.

Sure enough, Crowler's prized [Ancient Gear Golem] was turned into scrap metal by [Elemental Hero Flame Wingman's] [Skydive Scorcher], then Crowler himself got squashed by the remains of the machine-type monster, reducing the Doctor's life points to zero.

"Unbelievable…" Syrus gasped, "He beat a teacher! He beat a teacher who was using his own deck!"

"Crowler underestimated him severely." the girl said laconically, "That wouldn't happen if they were going for best two out of three. Looks like I'm going to be up next."

"Oh! What's your name anyway?" the blue-haired boy asked curiously.

-{ _Could Yuri Yamayuri please report to Duelling Field #3_ }-

"That would be me." Yuri said as she took off her hoodie, revealing her platinum-blond hair and a white t-shirt. She grabbed her bag, pulled an old Kaiba Corps Battle City Duel Disk from it and slipped it onto her left arm, "Wish me luck."

She passed Jaden on the way down and exchanged a nod with him before heading to the Duelling Field.

 _With Crowler, Duelling Field #3_

Vellian Crowler was furious. He had just been humiliated by a slacker, a deadbeat, a lowly dropout! Well now the gloves were coming off! No more Mr Nice-Guy! This next slacker would be crushed with extreme prejudice!

He stomped over to the Examiner's side of the field and stood waiting for his victim to arrive. When she emerged via the elevator, he snorted in disgust. She was dressed casually, in grey trousers, a white shirt and a white hoodie tied around her waist. She had long platinum blond hair tied into a ponytail that reached down to the small of her back and piercing ice-blue eyes.

"So, you are Yuri Yamayuri?" he asked imperiously.

She nodded and deployed her Duel Disk.

"Humph. At least you aren't as mouthy as the last one." Crowler sniffed as he readied his Duel Jacket.

"You will still lose, 'Doctor' Crowler." Yuri said bluntly.

"Is that a fact?" the man snorted, "Miracles do not happen so often, girl. Lightning doesn't strike twice."

"We'll see." the girl smirked, "Time for the teacher to get schooled."

"You can certainly talk big…let's see how you back it up!" Crowler growled. He could not believe the audacity of this girl!

""Duel!""

Yuri - 4000

Crowler - 4000

"I draw." Yuri declared. She looked at her hand before picking one out, "I activate the Magic Card [Solar Recharge]. By discarding a monster with [Lightsworn] in its name from my hand to the Graveyard, I can draw two cards. I then have to send two cards from my deck to the graveyard."

She discarded a card, drew two and then sent two cards from her deck to the graveyard.

"I then summon [Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress] in Attack mode!"

A dark-haired woman clad in diaphanous white robes with gold trimming and wielding a golden sceptre appeared on Yuri's side of the arena.

[Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress] - Attack 1700

"Then, I'll equip her with [Lightsworn Sabre], raising her attack by 700." Yuri declared. As she inserted the Equip Magic Card, Lyla's sceptre transformed into a sword with a golden hilt and a blade of pure white light.

Attack: 1700 + 700 = 2400

"I'll play the Continuous Magic Card [Card Trader] and Set one card facedown before ending my turn." the blond said, placing a card on the field, "During my end phase, [Lyla's] effect forces me to send three cards from my deck to the graveyard."

As she did so, Bastion up in the stands raised an eyebrow. "A Lightsworn Deck, eh?"

"Never heard of them." Jaden and Syrus chimed in simultaneously.

"They're a series of monsters that focus on sending cards from the deck to the graveyard in order to activate various effects." Bastion explained, "Almost all of them are effect monsters, and more than a few only activate when sent to the graveyard from the deck."

"Sounds sweet!" Jaden said with a grin.

"However, Lightsworn decks have several weaknesses." Bastion continued, "The most common one is running the risk of 'Decking Out', or running out of cards to draw from the deck, thus automatically losing."

"That's…a real risky deck." Syrus said nervously.

"Oh, it is." Bastion nodded, "But played right, it can be devastating. Let's see if Crowler can handle it."

"It's my turn!" the pale man declared. He drew before mentally cursing. He didn't have a single trap card, only one magic card, one monster that required a sacrifice to be summoned and four weak monsters.

' _I'll have to check my Duel Jacket's Auto-Shuffler after this and tone it down somewhat._ ' he thought as he decided to make the best of what he had.

"I summon [Ancient Gear Soldier] in Defence Mode!" he declared. A human-sized version of [Ancient Gear Golem] with a clockwork gun arm appeared kneeling on its card.

[Ancient Gear Soldier] - Defence: 1300

"I then discard a card in order to activate the Magic Card [Ancient Gear Drill]!" Crowler continued, the card appearing next to him as he inserted it, "It allows me to Set any Magic Card from my Deck onto the field, with the provision that it cannot be activated on this turn."

A single card stuck out of his deck which he placed on the field. His deck was then shuffled by the Auto-Shuffler.

"I end my turn." the Doctor said with a moue of irritation.

"I'm up then. Draw." Yuri said. She drew then gestured at her [Card trader], "I activate the effect of [Card Trader], which allows me to shuffle any card from my hand into my deck and draw a new card, once per turn and only during the standby phase."

After doing so, she selected one card from her hand and said, "I summon [Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior] in Attack Mode!"

This time a heavily muscled and armoured warrior with blue hair and wielding a halberd appeared next to [Lyla].

[Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior] - Attack: 1850

"Now…[Garoth], attack [Ancient Gear Soldier] with [Bardiche Barrage]!" Yuri ordered.

The warrior charged at the mechanical soldier and destroyed it with a well placed smash of his weapon.

"[Lyla], attack his life points directly!"

The sorceress pointed the rapier in her hand at Crowler and blasted him with a large bolt of light.

Crowler - 4000 - 2400 = 1600

"I'll throw down another facedown card and end my turn there." Yuri said with a smirk, "[Lyla's] Effect activates during the end phase, forcing me to send three cards to the graveyard from my deck."

After doing so, the blond continued, "That, in turn, allows me to activate [Garoth's] effect. I send two more cards to the graveyard from my deck, and, for every [Lightsworn] monster sent by this effect, I can draw an additional card."

She sent two cards to the graveyard and was allowed to draw a single new card.

"Over to you, 'Doctor' Crowler." she said with another smirk.

' _Impudent…!_ ' Crowler growled to himself. He drew a card, then smirked.

"I play the Magic Card [Pot of Greed], which lets me draw two additional cards." he stated, drawing twice more. He then pressed a button on his Duel Jacket.

"I then activate my facedown Card…[Ancient Gear Castle]!" he declared.

Behind him, a large stone castle bristling with weaponry and gears appeared. Crowler inserted another Magic Card into the Duel Jacket.

"I'll follow up on that by playing another Magic Card…[Magnet Circle LV2], which allows me to call forth any level two machine monster from my hand! Come forth, [Ancient Gear]!"

A waist high machine made entirely of gears appeared in front of Crowler and it was weak.

[Ancient Gear] - Attack: 100

"He isn't going to be sticking around for long, because I'm going to sacrifice him to summon [Ancient Gear Beast]!"

The small machine exploded. Once the dust from the explosion cleared, a horse-sized machine vaguely resembling a tiger stood in its place.

[Ancient Gear Beast] - Attack: 2000

Yuri eyed it, knowing it was stronger than her [Garoth].

"Thanks to my [Ancient Gear Castle], all monsters with [Ancient Gear] in their name get a 300 point boost to their attack!" Crowler continued smugly.

"You neglected to mention how normal summoning monsters with [Ancient Gear] in their name adds tokens to your castle, allowing you to use it instead of monsters to tribute-summon level six or higher [Ancient Gear] monsters." Yuri stated with a yawn.

Crowler glared at her. How could she know that?

"A-Anyway, I'm not done just yet!" he spluttered, "Just for that cheek of yours, I'll also equip [Ancient Gear Beast] with [Ancient Gear Tank]!"

A two-wheeled gear-themed device appeared underneath [Ancient Gear Beast].

Yuri raised an eyebrow at this. "It looks more like [Ancient Gear Motorbike], but whatever."

Crowler spluttered again.

Up at the top of the stands, a girl wearing the uniform of a female student in Obelisk Blue giggled. She had short blond hair and light blue eyes.

"That girl does have a point, doesn't she Zane?"

The boy next to her said nothing, just focussing on the match before him.

"[Ancient Gear TANK] raises the Attack of my monster by 600!" Crowler said, emphasising the word tank to make sure there wasn't any mistaking what he was talking about.

[Ancient Gear Beast] - 2000 + 300 + 600 = 2900

"Not good! Now Crowler's monster is stronger!" Bastion said worriedly.

"[Ancient Gear Beast], attack [Garoth] with [Armoured Gear Grind Assault]!" Crowler ordered.

[Ancient Gear Beast] (Attack: 2900) Vs. [Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior] (Attack: 1850)

The tank riding mechanical beast slammed into [Garoth] and fired the nose-mounted cannon, destroying him. Yuri flinched as her monster was destroyed and her life points went down.

Yuri - 4000 - 1050 = 2950

"I think that shall do for now." Crowler stated smugly.

"That," Yuri said calmly, "was a tactical error on your part. You should have destroyed [Lyla] rather than [Garoth]. Draw."

After drawing and using the effect of [Card Trader], Yuri grinned.

"First off, I'll equip [Lyla with a second [Lightsworn Sabre]!"

A second rapier appeared in front of [Lyla] and was grabbed by her free hand.

[Lyla] - Attack: 2400 + 700 = 3100

"3100 Attack points?!" Crowler gasped.

"Did you really think the only one with multiple Equip Magic Cards was you?" Yuri asked mockingly, "Next, I'll activate a facedown card of mine: [Beckoning Light]! I discard my entire hand to the deck, then add an equal number of Light-attribute monsters to the number of cards I discarded, which is two!"

After taking the cards she wanted from the Graveyard, the blond girl smiled.

"Allow me to introduce you to my third Lightsworn…[Jain, Lightsworn Paladin]!"

This one was a handsome white-haired man in ornate white and gold armour, a white and red cape, with a white-bladed sword and white and gold shield in his hands.

[Jain, Lightsworn Paladin] - Attack: 1800

"[Lyla], take that tank apart!" Yuri ordered, "[Light Cross]!"

[Lyla] - (Attack: 3100) Vs [Ancient Gear Beast] - (Attack: 2900)

The sorceress formed a cross with the blades of her swords and blasted [Ancient Gear Beast] and its tank into smithereens.

Crowler - 1600 - 200 = 1400

"Oh, and I lose 600 points because of the effect of [Ancient Gear Tank]." Yuri added nonchalantly, "Oh well. You have to spend life points to take life points."

Yuri - 2950 - 600 = 2350

"Th-this can't be happening!" the Doctor gibbered, "Twice? I'm going to lose to two latecomers in a row?!"

"Them's the breaks. You underestimated Jaden and lost and then you made the same mistake with me." Yuri said with a casual shrug, "Now…[Jain]! Drive the message home to the good doctor! Attack with [Holy Slash]!"

[Jain] saluted with his sword and leapt at Crowler, striking him across the midriff and sending him careening back into his [Ancient Gear Castle].

Crowler - 1400 - 1800 = -400

Victor: Yuri Yamayuri

As the duel holograms disappeared, Yuri collected her cards and returned them to her belt-mounted deck box before collapsing her Duel Disk.

"My victory. See you at Duel Academy…Doctor." she said with a smirk before turning and walking off.

Up in the stands, Jaden, Syrus and Bastion each had different thoughts about her.

' _She's strong! I don't wanna duel her!_ ' was what Syrus thought.

Jaden, by contrast, couldn't wait to duel her.

' _Hmmm…with both Jaden_ and _Yuri at Duel Academy, my school life will be anything but dull. I'll be able to keep at the top of my game with them as rivals._ ' was Bastion's conclusion.

 _With Yuri_

"Haaahhh…why'd he have to be such a hardass? I made a flashy entrance!" was what the blond-haired girl sighed as she walked out of the Exam Hall.

"I mean, he got his ass handed to him by someone just before me!" she continued to grumble as she took a mobile phone out of her trouser pocket and started to dial a number she knew by heart, "You'd think that, as a PhD in Duelling, he'd be more cautious! Ah well…"

She finished dialling and put the phone to her ear. It was answered a moment later.

" _You passed, I take it._ " the person who answered asked abruptly.

"Of course. I duelled Crowler, with his real deck." Yuri replied.

" _An acceptable light warm-up exercise._ " the man said with a snort.

"Another kid duelled him before me." Yuri told him, "Someone called Jaden Yuuki. He won too."

" _Jaden_ _Yuuki…_ " the man breathed, " _He is known to me. Keep an eye on him._ "

"Yes sir." Yuri replied.

" _The mission begins once you arrive at Duel Academy._ " the man continued, " _Once there, you will officially be in the cold. Only Chancellor Sheppard will know of you and your mission, but do not count on him aiding you. Do not contact me unless something of truly…significant import arises. Understood?_ "

"It is." Yuri replied, "I trust you will alert me if… **that** is discovered?"

" _I keep my deals, child._ " the man told her coldly, " _Complete this mission and all your requests will be fulfilled._ "

"I will trust in that…Seto Kaiba." the girl replied before she hung up.

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 **Next Chapter: Welcome to Duel Academy**

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	2. Chapter 2

"Duel!" - Regular Speech

' _Tricky_ _…_ ' - Thoughts

 **Chapter 2: Welcome to Duel Academy**

 _A Week Later_

 _Helicopter Transport, En-Route to Academy Island_

Yuri looked on in mild amusement as the rest of her yearmates chattered excitedly amongst themselves. Everyone was wondering which dorm they would be put in and so on and so forth. She knew that everyone here would be in either Slifer Red or Ra Yellow. Those who would be in Obelisk Blue were already on the island, taken there by private jets and whatnot.

In the seats in front of her, Jaden Yuuki and Syrus Truesdale sat and chatted away. She had researched all of the students that stood out amongst her year. Jaden had been in contact with Yugi Moto just prior to the exams, but his file was heavily redacted for some reason.

Syrus was the younger brother of Zane Truesdale, a Duelling prodigy, while Bastion Misawa had scored the highest in the written portion of the exam.

Yuri was the only girl here, as most of the others were rich girls and were thus in Obelisk Blue. She had a feeling Chancellor Sheppard would try and put her in the girl's dorm, which wouldn't do. She had deliberately fudged her exam scores to get into Slifer Red.

Out of the window, she caught sight of Academy Island. It was split into two halves. One was a barren wasteland with a smoking volcano, while the other half was covered in plant life and two lakes. The Academy itself was snug against a small cliff and she could just barely make out two large blue buildings near the larger lake.

' _Those must be the two Obelisk Blue Dorms._ ' Yuri thought.

Obelisk Blue was the only school 'house' with separate dorms for the two sexes, as there were relatively few female duellists, most of whom were rich.

"This will be interesting." she muttered as the helicopter came in for a landing.

 _Later_

 _Chancellor Sheppard's Office, Duel Academy_

Chancellor Sheppard was a large, jovial man wearing a burgundy Academy uniform. He was bald, had a grey beard and moustache and looked as if he smiled more than he frowned.

At the moment, sat behind his desk and arms crossed disapprovingly, it felt like a parent scolding their child.

"Miss Yamayuri…can I ask why you deliberately made it so you would be placed in Slifer Red?" he asked.

"Chancellor...you _are_ aware of why I am here and who sent me, are you not?" Yuri replied evenly.

Sheppard frowned. "Yes, an I am not at all pleased that Mr Kaiba feels the need to send a spy into his own school."

Duel Academy had been founded by the Kaiba Corporation and its CEO, Seto Kaiba, held control over both school and company with an iron fist.

"Sir, with great respect, there have been multiple accounts of unfair treatment and bullying occurring here." Yuri stated, "Mr Kaiba doesn't particularly care over much about it, but his younger brother, Mokuba, prevailed upon him to send me in to conduct an investigation during my three years here."

"I still fail to see why you wish to enter Slifer Red as opposed to Obelisk Blue." the Chancellor stated in confusion, "The records I was provided shows that you could have come very close to Bastion Misawa in the written exam and with Mr Kaiba paying your fees, it would be a shoe in for you."

"In order to get a good read on exactly how much bullying and elitism happens at this school, the best place to do so is in the lowest class available…Slifer Red in this case." Yuri replied, "This way, I can see exactly how bad it is here. Mr Kaiba was insistent upon the report being as thorough as possible."

He really had been.

Looking unhappy, but resigned, Sheppard pulled out a female Slifer Red Uniform and passed it over to her. She didn't much like the skirt, but sacrifices had to be made.

"Head to the Slifer Dorm and pick a room." the Chancellor told her, "That room will have a better lock installed on it. Just as a precaution, you understand."

"Who's in charge of the Slifer Red Dorms?" Yuri asked as she accepted the uniform.

"Professor Lyman Banner. He's in charge of teaching you Alchemy." the Chancellor replied.

"What about the welcoming ceremony?" Yuri pointed out.

"You have my permission to skip it. This is more important." the head of Duel Academy informed her, "Here, this is a permission slip. Show that to any teacher who challenges you and they'll let you be."

"Got it." the platinum-haired girl nodded, "Later then."

After Yuri left, Chancellor Sheppard sighed.

"Mr Kaiba…what are you thinking?" he muttered.

 _Later_

 _Slifer Red Dorms_

Yuri sat at the back of the dorm, her legs dangling over the edge of the cliff as she let the breeze make her hair flutter and dance in the air. She was now dressed in the uniform of a Slifer Red. A red jacket with no sleeves, a white skirt and a red belt made up her attire. On her left arm, an Academy Duel Disk glittered.

She was out here waiting for the Academy Maintenance Division to finish adding that lock that the Chancellor wanted added to her room. The rest of Slifer Red had come back a while ago and had tucked in to the 'welcoming feast' that was provided…a traditional Japanese meal, including rice, miso soup and some rather well-done fish.

After that, Jaden had dragged Syrus out to sightsee the other buildings on the island. She felt a bit sorry for Syrus, but it was good that Jaden was being a friend to him. The poor boy couldn't say boo to a goose.

She had seen them talking to a large boy that looked like a giant koala. He had apparently been here the previous year, but had failed to move up to Ra Yellow in the promotion exams, so he was repeating his freshman year.

His name was Chumley Huffingnton.

From what she had heard, the boy was a serious downer. Evidently he had been hit hard by the reality of the social caste system here at Duel Academy. The Blues at the top, the Yellows in the middle and the Reds at the bottom.

Yuri decided to go out and explore on her own. She trusted her own judgement more than the leaflets available to the public, or even the reports from the Kaiba Corps Investigations Bureau.

Striding along the pathway to the main building of the Academy, she saw the large and ostentatious Obelisk Blue Dorm, which was more of a palace than a dorm. Slifer Red's Dorm could fit in it at least twenty times over.

' _The things that the rich will pay for._ ' Yuri thought with a snort. She ignored the sneers from the male members of Obelisk Blue and headed off into the forest.

The largely untamed island was pleasant to look at and Yuri found herself in a clearing where there was an old well in the centre. Peering into it, she saw numerous Duel Monster cards discarded down it.

"[Mushroom Man #2]…[Des Lacooda]…[Hyena]…[Hane-Hane]…[Jinzo #7]…" she read the ones that she could see. All of them had less than a thousand Attack Points, although two of them had useful effects that balanced that fact out.

"What is this place?" Yuri wondered aloud.

"The Reject Well." a female voice spoke up, surprising her. Yuri turned her head to see a girl in Obelisk Blue colours. She had blond hair and blue eyes.

"Reject Well?" Yuri asked with an arched eyebrow.

"All students come here at some point to discard cards that they think are useless." the blond girl explained.

"There is no such thing as a useless card, merely no situation that its usefulness has been shown to be needed in." Yuri protested with a frown.

"Good attitude, freshman." the other girl grinned and extended one hand, "I'm Alexis Rhodes. Nice to meet you."

"Yuri Yamayuri." the platinum-haired girl replied, taking the hand and shaking it firmly, "Surprised that someone from Obelisk Blue would deign to talk to A Slifer Red."

"Not all of us care about that kind of thing." Alexis informed her, "Not many among the Girls Dorm anyway."

"I see. Thank you for the knowledge." Yuri replied with a smile, "I should be heading to my dorm; it's almost curfew."

"Ah. You're right." Alexis nodded, "See you in class."

Yuri parted with the blond, not noticing a slight glow around her own body and the well.

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 _Later that Night…_

Yuri relaxed in her room, clad in bike shorts and a t-shirt as she shuffled her deck. She had just been looking through it and making notes of what cards she needed to add to it. While she worked for Kaiba Corps, Seto Kaiba had only provided her with a basic deck when she had started there. She had had to build her Lightsworn Deck up from scratch, buying and trading cards until it could get Seto Kaiba himself to say 'not bad' after a duel.

She had never won against him, of course. Hell, she hadn't even reduced him to less than two-thousand lifepoints in any duel. Still, getting one of the top two duellists in the world to say that your deck wasn't too bad was immense praise. Especially from someone as finicky and praise-shy as Seto Kaiba.

Yuri frowned as a voice cooed in her mind. What was it? It sounded…like someone or something was calling out to her. Rather insistently at that.

Deciding to track down the source, Yuri got dressed and slid her Duel Disk onto her arm. She had the feeling that she'd be needing it.

Sneaking out of the Dorm was very easy. No night watchman and Professor Banner wasn't on patrol either. Another thing to let Seto Kaiba know about.

As she moved, Yuri frowned. She seemed to be drawn toward the general direction of the Reject Well, which puzzled her. Who or what could be there?

Reaching the clearing, Yuri was taken aback by the floating figure above the well.

"[Battle Warrior]?" she whispered.

" _Duellist._ " a male voice said in her head, " _One who dwells here has chosen you. However, you must prove your worth as a Duellist before you may become its partner. Do you accept my challenge?_ "

Yuri narrowed her eyes. A Duel Spirit. Something Seto Kaiba scorned, but she believed in. She deployed her Duel Disk in answer.

" _Very well._ " Battle Warrior raised a hand and five large Duel Monsters cards appeared before him.

"Duel!" " _Duel!_ "

Battle Warrior - 4000

Yuri - 4000

" _First turn honours are mine._ " the Duel Spirit announced, making another card appear, bringing his hand up to six cards, " _I summon_ [Masaki the Legendary Swordsman] _in attack mode._ "

A warrior clad in green armour appeared with katana drawn.

[Masaki the Legendary Swordsman] - Attack: 1100 Defence: 1100

" _I'll set two cards face down and end my turn._ " Battle Warrior stated.

Two face down card shimmered into existence behind the warrior swordsman.

"My turn then." Yuri drew and selected one card, "I play [Solar Recharge], which, for the cost of discarding on monster with 'Lightsworn' in its name to the Graveyard, allows me to draw two cards then send two cards from my deck to the Graveyard."

After doing so, she smirked. "I Set this monster face down in Defence Mode, then Set two cards face down on the field to end my turn."

Three face down cards appeared on the field, on in the monster zone and two in the magic/trap card zone.

" _My turn. Draw._ " the Duel Spirit said and drew, " _I play the Magic Card_ [Polymerisation], _fusing the_ [Masaki the Legendary Swordsman] _on my field with the_ [Flame Manipulator] in my hand to form [Flame Swordsman] _,_ _in Attack Mode!_ "

The warrior with green armour was engulfed in fire, which cleared to reveal a warrior in blue and red armour wielding an orange broadsword with the character for Flame engraved on the blade.

[Flame Swordsman] - Attack: 1800

" _I then Summon_ [Blue Flame Swordsman] _in Attack Mode._ " Battle Warrior continued.

A duplicate of the [Flame Swordsman], except wielding a sword with blue fire engraved on the blade and wearing largely blue armour appeared next to the original.

[Blue Flame Swordsman] - Attack: 1800 Defence: 1600

"[Blue Flame Swordsman], _attack the face-down monster with_ [Blue Flaming Sword of Battle] _!_ " the Duel Spirit ordered. The monster swung his sword, sending an arc of blue flames at the card, flipping it over and revealing a small white dog with an armoured collar before the flames engulfed it, destroying it.

"Thanks for that." Yuri said, "You just flipped over an effect monster! I activate the special ability of [Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter]! It allows me to destroy and one card on the field in exchange for sending three cards from the top of my deck to the graveyard! Bye-bye [Flame Swordsman]!"

As she sent the top cards of her deck to the graveyard, a bolt of white light shot from her Duel Disk and blasted the [Flame Swordsman] into pixels.

" _I activate my Trap Card,_ [Simultaneous Loss]!" Battle Warrior declared, " _Now we must both send one card from the top of our decks to the Graveyard._ "

After doing so, Battle Warrior huffed. " _I set one more card face-down and then must end my turn._ "

"My draw." Yuri said, "I reveal my face-down card, [Glorious Illusion]! It allows me to call a Lightsworn monster from the graveyard. Come forth, [Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior]!"

The halberd-wielding warrior appeared on the field with a brandish of his weapon.

" _I activate_ [Threatening Roar] _,_ _preventing you from conducting your Battle Phase on this turn!_ " Battle Warrior stated.

"I see." Yuri said with a frown, "Well Garoth isn't going to be here for long, as I'm sacrificing him in order to Summon [Celestia, Lightsworn Angel], activating [Light Spiral] as I do so!"

Garoth vanished and in his place, a female armoured angel appeared, white wings spread wide and her staff aglow. Behind her, a trap card with the picture of a beam of light with a spiral twisting around it flipped up.

[Celestia, Lightsworn Angel] - Attack: 2300

"When [Celestia] is summoned by sacrificing a Lightsworn monster, I can destroy up to two cards you control by sending four cards from my deck to the graveyard. [Radiant Light of Purification]!" Yuri called out.

A wave of light erupted from Celestia's staff and struck both the [Blue Flame Swordsman] and the face-down card, destroying them.

" _I activate the effect of_ [Blue Flame Swordsman]." Battle Warrior stated, " _When sent to the graveyard from the field by battle or a card effect controlled by my opponent, I can remove him from play in order to summon any FIRE-type Warrior from my graveyard. Come forth once again,_ [Flame Swordsman] _!_ "

The fiery monster reappears in a burst of orange flames.

"Troublesome, but manageable." Yuri said with a frown, "Anyway, [Light Spiral] activates. Its effect means that every time I send cards from my deck to the graveyard by the effect of a Lightsworn monster, you have to remove the top card of your deck from play."

Battle Warrior seemed to frown behind his blue visor as one of his cards was removed from his deck.

"I'm not done yet." Yuri informed him with a smile, "I activate [Pot of Avarice], returning five monsters from my Graveyard back to my deck, allowing me to reshuffle it and then draw two cards."

She did so, then smiled again.

"I Set two cards face down, then end my turn." Yuri said.

" _My turn. Draw._ " Battle Warrior said, " _I activate [Pot of Greed], allowing me to draw two more cards. Then I activate the Field Magic Card_ [Sogen] _, which increases the attack of all Warrior and Beast-Warrior monsters by 200._ "

The well and trees disappeared, replaced by an endless sea of plains.

" _I then play the Magic Card_ [Shield and Sword] _,_ _which reverses the attack and defence of all monsters on the field for one turn._ " Battle Warrior stated, "[Offensive/Defensive Switch] _!_ "

Flame Swordsman - Attack: 1800 Defence: 2000

Celestia, Lightsworn Angel - Attack: 200 Defence: 2300

" _Now attack with_ [Flaming Sword of Battle]!" Battle Warrior ordered.

[Flame Swordsman] (Attack: 1800) vs. [Celestia, Lightsworn Angel] (Attack: 200)

The fire-controlling warrior leapt forwards and smashed his weapon into the angel, destroying her in a gout of fire.

Yuri - 4000

" _What?!_ " the Duel Spirit said in surprise.

" As you attacked, I activated this trap card." Yuri pointed at the newly revealed card next to her, "It's one of my favourites, actually. [Defence Draw] negates any damage I take as a result of a given battle and allows me to draw a card."

" _Tricky. I Set a card face down and end my turn._ " Battle Warrior stated.

"My turn. Draw." Yuri stated. She smiled as she saw which card she had drawn. "I summon [Jain, Lightsworn Paladin] to the field, in attack mode!"

The white-armoured warrior appeared in a flash of light.

"And of course, as a Warrior-type monster, he gains a field power bonus from your own [Sogen] magic card."

[Jain, Lightsworn Paladin] - Attack: 1800 - 2000

" _He does not exceed_ [Flame Swordsman's] _Attack power._ " Battle Warrior observed.

"No, but he will soon." Yuri countered, "[Jain], attack [Flame Swordsman] with [Holy Slash]!"

[Jain, Lightsworn Paladin] (Attack: 2000 + 300 = 2300) vs. [Flame Swordsman] (Attack: 2000)

The slighter warrior shattered the broadsword of the [Flame Swordsman] and destroyed him in one slash.

" _How did your monster gain those extra three hundred attack points?_ " Battle Warrior asked as he lost three-hundred lifepoints.

"His special ability." Yuri replied, "When attacking another monster, [Jain] gains three-hundred extra attack points."

Battle Warrior - 4000 - 300 = 3700

"I'll end my turn at that." Yuri said with a nod, "[Jain's] effect activates and I send two cards from my deck to the graveyard, also activating [Light Spiral], so you lose another card from the top of your deck."

" _My turn. Draw._ " the Duel Spirit said, " _Ah, excellent. I activate [Card of Sanctity], allowing both of us to draw until we hold six cards each. I then play the Ritual Magic Card_ [Garma Sword Oath] _,_ _offering up the_ [Sword Hunter] _in my hand in order to do so. Emerge! Garma Sword!_ "

Appearing on the field was a six-armed monster wearing dark armour and a pointed helmet.

[Garma Sword] - Attack: 2550 + 200 = 2750

"Not good." Yuri said with a wince.

" _Attack_ [Jain] _with_ [Hexagram Dissection Dance]!" Battle Warrior ordered.

[Garma Sword] (Attack: 2750) vs. [Jain, Lightsworn Paladin] (Attack: 2000)

With six quick cuts, Jain was sliced to pieces.

Yuri - 4000 - 750 = 3250

"That hurts." Yuri winced.

" _I end my turn._ " Battle Warrior stated.

"Draw." Yuri drew a card, "I reveal my face-down card, [Glorious Illusion], which I use to bring back [Celestia, Lightsworn Angel]!"

The angelic monster reappeared on the field in a flash.

"I'll then equip her with [Lightsworn Sabre], increasing her attack to 3000!" Yuri said.

Celestia, Lightsworn Angel - Attack: 2300 + 700 = 3000

"As I have yet to Normal Summon, I do so with [Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress] in Attack Mode!" Yuri said with a smirk, "I then activate the Quick-Play magic Card [Guard Penalty] and designate [Lyla]. Next, I activate [Lyla's] special ability and shift her to defence mode, using her effect to destroy that face-down card of yours. And, as I designated [Lyla] with [Guard Penalty], and she shifted into defence mode, I can draw a card from my deck."

She did so.

"Now, [Celestia]! Destroy [Garma Sword] with your [Ray of Purification]!" Yuri ordered.

[Celestia, Lightsworn Angel] (Attack: 3000) vs. [Garma Sword] (Attack: 2750)

A bolt of light erupted from the staff of [Celestia], striking down [Garma Sword] with one strike, making Battle Warrior flinch back.

Battle Warrior - 3700 - 250 = 3450

"I'll Set one card face down and end my turn." Yuri said, "This activates the effects of both [Lyla] and [Glorious Illusion], meaning I must discard five cards to the Graveyard. You lose one card from the top of your deck."

A light shines from her graveyard.

"Two of the cards I discarded have effects that activate when sent from the deck to the graveyard directly." Yuri stated, "I activate the effect of [Wulf, Lightsworn Beast]. When sent to the Graveyard from the deck, he is Special Summoned to the field."

A large beast-warrior wielding a large trident-like spear appeared.

[Wulf, Lightsworn Beast] - Attack: 2100 + 200 = 2300

"The second card is [Lightsworn Sabre]. When sent directly from the deck to the Graveyard, it is equipped to any one Lightsworn monster I control." Yuri said, "I chose [Wulf]!"

[Wulf, Lightsworn Beast] - 2300 + 700 = 3000

" _My turn._ " Battle Warrior said, " _Two monsters with three-thousand attack points apiece. This is indeed disadvantageous for me._ "

He regarded his hand for a moment before choosing one. " _I play_ [Card Destruction] _,_ _forcing both of us to discard our hands and redraw until we hold the same number of cards._ "

He and Yuri did so, until he held four cards again and she four also.

" _I play_ [Smashing Ground] _,_ _which destroys_ [Wulf] _,_ _as he has the highest defence points out of all of your monsters._ " he stated.

[Wulf] vanished with a howl and a flash of light.

"I activate my trap card, [Beckoning Light]!" Yuri declared, "I discard my hand and pick a number of LIGHT-type monsters from my graveyard equal to that of the number of cards I discarded."

She did so, with a light in her eyes.

" _I shall summon_ [Warrior Lady of the Wasteland] _,_ _in defence mode._ " Battle Warrior declared. A female monster in a brown cape and hat, with a sword held in a guard position appeared kneeling on her card.

[Warrior Lady of the Wasteland] - Defence: 1200

" _I end my turn._ " Battle Warrior stated.

"I draw." Yuri said, "I sacrifice [Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress] so I can summon [Gragonith, Lightsworn Dragon]!"

The sorceress vanished and her place was taken by an equine-looking white dragon with a blue horn on its head.

[Gragonith, Lightsworn Dragon] - Attack: 2000

" _Not a very impressive monster._ " Battle Warrior observed.

"Looks can be deceiving." Yuri replied, "[Gragonith] receives three-hundred extra attack and defence points for each Lightsworn name in my graveyard, duplicates aside. There are seven, so Gragonith receives an extra 2100 attack points!"

[Gragonith, Lightsworn Dragon] - 2000 + 2100 = 4100

" _Over four-thousand attack points!?_ " Battle Warrior gasped.

"[Celestia], attack [Warrior Lady of the Wasteland] with [Ray of Purification]!" Yuri ordered.

The female warrior was wiped out in one attack.

" _I activate the special ability of_ [Warrior Lady of the Wasteland]." the Duel Spirit said, " _If destroyed in battle, I can summon another EARTH-type warrior with less than 1500 attack points from my deck in attack mode. Come forth,_ [Different Dimension Warrior] _!_ "

A female warrior appeared wielding a curved sword and clad in an odd looking suit.

[D.D. Warrior] - Attack: 1200

"Ah…troubling." Yuri observed, "If I dare attack, my [Gragonith] will be removed from play, although you will still receive the damage to your life points. A worthy trade, I would say. [Gragonith], attack [D.D. Warrior] with [Blessed Breath]!"

[Gragonith, Lightsworn Dragon] (Attack: 4100) vs. [D.D. Warrior] (Attack: 1200)

[Gragonith] attacked the far weaker warrior with a mighty breath attack of pure white energy, utterly destroying her. The sword of the warrior slammed into the dragon afterwards and dragged it into another dimension.

Battle Warrior - 3450-2900 = 550

"I end my turn, paying the cost for [Glorious Illusion] as I do so." Yuri said simply.

" _Truly frightening…you stop at nothing to achieve victory._ " Battle Warrior said, " _You even sacrificed your most powerful monster in order to deal damage to me._ "

"Most powerful…? No." Yuri replied with a chuckle, "I have one that is more powerful in a different way. I don't use it unless I am in serious trouble however. As for how I go about gaining victory…well, I do push hard to win. Any true duellist does. I do respect my cards, if that's what you're worried about."

" _We shall see. Draw!_ " he said, " _I play the Magic Card_ [Graceful Charity] _,_ _allowing me to draw three cards, at the cost of discarding two._ "

Three cards appeared into his hand, and two vanished with a gesture from him.

" _I then Summon myself to the field, in attack mode!_ "

A copy of himself appeared on the field, fists in a ready position.

[Battle Warrior] - Attack: 700 + 200 = 900

" _I'll play two cards face down to end my turn._ "

"Fine. My draw." Yuri said.

' _Oh please! That has to be the worst trap I have ever seen!_ ' she thought as she consulted her hand.

"I summon [Freed the Brave Wanderer] to the field in attack mode!" she declared.

A blond-haired warrior clad in silvery armour and a cape appeared on the field, sword drawn and ready.

[Freed the Brave Wanderer] - Attack: 1700 + 200 = 1900

"[Freed], attack [Battle Warrior]!" Yuri ordered.

Freed charged at the weaker warrior with his sword, but the Duel Spirit raised a hand.

" _I activate my Trap card,_ [Sakuretsu Armour] _!_ " he declared, " _It destroys your_ [Brave Wanderer] _before your attack can land._ "

The [Battle Warrior] on the field grew spike over his body and repulsed [Freed], who shattered into pixels.

"In which case, I attack [Battle Warrior] with [Celestia]!" Yuri said, "End this duel!"

" _Not so fast!_ " Battle Warrior said, " _I activate_ [Negate Attack] _! This stops your attack and ends the battle phase._ "

Scowling, Yuri made the only move available to her. "I set one card face down and end my turn. I pay for [Glorious Illusion's] upkeep as well."

" _My turn._ " the Duel Spirit stated. He drew and smiled.

" _I equip_ [Battle Warrior] _with the Equip Magic Card_ [Ultimate Battle Fist]!"

The right hand of [Battle Warrior] began to glow with a blue light.

"Now, [Battle Warrior], attack [Celestia] with [Ultimate Battle Fist]!" he ordered.

The warrior leapt into the air and slammed his glowing fist into [Celestia], shattering the angel into pieces.

"[Celestia]!" Yuri said in shock, "What did you do?!"

" _When_ [Ultimate Battle Fist] _is equipped to_ [Battle Warrior] _,_ _I do not lose any life points as a result of battle, nor can_ [Battle Warrior] _be destroyed as a result of battle._ " the Duel Spirit replied, " _In addition, any monster that the monster equipped with_ [Ultimate Battle Fist] _battles with is destroyed at the end of damage calculation. I do lose half of my lifepoints every time a battle takes place, however, and_ [Ultimate Battle Fist] _is sent to the graveyard at the end of my turn._ "

Battle Warrior - 550 - ½ = 275

" _I set one card face down and end my turn._ " the Duel Spirit said as the glow around the other [Battle Warrior's] fist faded to nothing.

"My Turn." Yuri said with a frown. She was close to Decking out here, so she had to finish this off this turn. "I play the Magic Card [Charge of the Light Brigade]! By sending the top three cards on the top of my deck to the graveyard, I can take any four-star or lower Lightsworn monster from my deck and add it to my hand…and I summon her forth! [Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner]!"

A girl in a white toga appeared on the field, her hands aglow.

[Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner] - Attack: 1000

" _I activate my trap card…_ [Shadow Spell] _!_ " Battle Warrior announced, "[Lumina] _cannot attack or change her battle position._ "

From the activated trap card, numerous black chains emerge and bind the summoner, rendering her helpless.

"Well played." Yuri admitted, "But I am not finished yet. I activate [Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner's] special ability. By discarding a card from my hand, I can summon any four-star or lower Lightsworn monster from my graveyard. Return to the field, [Wulf]!"

The beast-warrior roared as he reappeared on the field.

[Wulf, Lightsworn Beast] - Attack: 2100 + 200 = 2300

"Now [Wulf, Lightsworn Beast]!" Yuri ordered, "Attack [Battle Warrior] with [Bestial Spear Smash] and end this duel!"

[Wulf, Lightsworn Beast] (Attack: 2300) vs. [Battle Warrior] (Attack: 900)

With a roar, the beast-warrior brought his spear around, smashing it on top of [Battle Warrior] with all its might, destroying the valiant but far weaker warrior in a shower of pixels.

Battle Warrior - 275 - 1400 = -1125

" _It is my loss._ " Battle Warrior admitted as the Duel Holograms faded and vanished, " _You have proven your worth as a Duellist. Come forth, little one. Your new partner awaits you._ "

A spark of light emerged from the well and grew until it formed a small, white, cat-like creature with long lightning-shaped antennae drooping off the tips of its ears.

"Rinyan, Lightsworn Rogue…" Yuri whispered in awe one hand reaching up to touch

The Duel Spirit rubbed her head against Yuri's face and meowed at her before vanishing, a Duel Monster's card dropping into her outstretched hand.

" _Fare thee well, Duellist._ " Battle Warrior said before he too faded and disappeared from sight.

Yuri looked at Rinyan's card for a moment. "Welcome to the team, partner."

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 **Next Chapter: Letters, Exams and Mercenary Duellists**

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	3. Chapter 3

"Duel!" - Regular Speech

' _Tricky…_ ' - Thoughts

 **Chapter Three: Letters, Exams and Mercenary Duellists**

 _Evening_

 _Yuri's Room, Slifer Red Dorm_

The next few days of Duel Academy were the standard adjustment period that you would expect for a new term at any school. Yuri noted that the elitist attitude seemed to be wholly or at least mostly focussed in Obelisk Blue Dorm's students and the staff who ran it, especially Vellian Crowler.

In the first class they had, he had asked Syrus what the effect of the Magic Card [Dangerous Machine Type-6] was, and then asked Alexis Rhodes, the Obelisk Blue girl Yuri had met before, what the effect of [Pot of Greed] was. The difficulty level of the questions was too different, as [Pot of Greed] only had a single effect, while [Dangerous Machine Type-6] had several.

Jaden, she noted with a bit of a grin, had dozed off in the middle of the lecture. There was something about him that Yuri found refreshing. He had no interest in anything except Duelling and was a bit dim, but there was no deception in him, no trickery or falseness. He was a genuinely nice person, evidenced by his taking Syrus under his wing.

He also attracted the ire of the biggest bigot in the Freshman class, a boy called Chazz Princeton. Yuri recognised him as the youngest of the three Princeton Brothers, who had been angling to take over Duel Academy for the last few years. Sending the youngest brother here must be an attempt to show the world their power or some such nonsense.

Yuri was unsurprised to learn that the cause of Chazz's animosity sprang from Jaden's defeat of Crowler. What did surprise her was that the arrogant boy didn't lump her in as well as she had defeated Crowler as well. She supposed that it was because the shock factor had worn off slightly when she beat him after Jaden.

The two had even had an against-the-rules after school Duel in the school's duelling arena. Chazz, using a Chthonian-themed Fiend deck, had actually managed to drive Jaden into a corner, from what Syrus said. She had been busy writing up her first report for Seto Kaiba so hadn't gone a long with the two. When the Duel had been interrupted, it had been the draw phase of Jaden's turn and he had been about to draw [Monster Reborn], which would have turned the duel around in Jaden's favour.

Yuri, seated in her room, shook her head in amusement. She had never met anyone with the luck-of-the-draw ability that Jaden seemed to possess.

Days later, Syrus received a 'love letter' from Alexis inviting him to the Girl's dorm that turned out to be false and would have earned him an expulsion had Jaden not charged in and accepted Alexis' challenge of a Duel for Syrus' fate.

Alexis' deck had female warrior monsters, her most powerful being the Fusion Monster [Cyber Blader] that gained special effects depending on how many monsters her opponent had out on their field. Yuri, who watched from the side-lines, had to admit that the blond girl knew her stuff when it came to controlling the flow of the duel and keeping her opponents off balance, but Jaden had pulled another victory from nowhere yet again.

"That idiot's gained the Queen of Obelisk Blue's attention and he doesn't even realise it." The platinum-blond chuckled as she shuffled her deck. She had just adjusted it after the recent promotion tests, and hadn't that been amusing?

Someone, Crowler she presumed, had slipped a wrath-filled Chazz a whole lot of rare and powerful cards to increase the power of his deck. It had changed into a Machine-type deck filled with the VWXYZ monsters, ones that Seto Kaiba was fond of using in his own duelling deck, especially the powerful five monster Fusion Monster, [VWXYZ Dragon Catapult Cannon]. Before promotion tests, all students were given some card packs and some time to add any cards that they found useful into their decks. Crowler must have stripped dozens of packs in order to get those monster, magic and trap cards for Chazz, as there were only enough (barely) for everyone, minus Jaden.

Fortunately for the exuberant boy, he had helped Dorothy, the person who ran both the cafeteria and the card shop, push a heavy cart up the hill. As thanks, she had given him some new packs she had just gotten in. Somehow, Jaden's luck with cards translated into being able to get just the right card from a pack as well, as he had gotten his hands on the Magic Card [Transcendent Wings].

That card evolved his [Winged Kuriboh] into [Winged Kuriboh LV10] at just the right moment, winning the duel against Chazz. Yuri had also won her duel against one of Chazz's flunkeys and had had the chance to promote to Ra Yellow. Like Jaden, she had refused.

Now she was getting ready to go to a meeting of their year mates in Slifer Red. Well, 'meeting' was a bit formal. The others just wanted to tell ghost stories. Still, Yuri decided that getting to know those in her year and dorm couldn't be a bad thing, so here she was off to get spooked.

She carefully placed her deck inside of the case on her belt and stood up, grabbing her uniform top as she went. She hated the thing because it was too damn formfitting and showed off her breasts to all and sundry. She was a large C-cup and it showed.

"Yo Jaden, Syrus, Chumley." She greeted the three who had invited her as she walked into the dorm cafeteria, leaving it open as the rules required.

"Hey." Jaden waved enthusiastically, "Nice to see ya, Yuri."

"Oh, the new girl." Chumley sighed, "Nice to see you."

The repeat-year boy sat next to Syrus on one side of the table, while Jaden sat opposite him. The blue-haired boy nodded shyly at her as Yuri sat down at the last free seat.

After lighting a candle to set the mood, Chumley turned the lights off and the stories began. Syrus drew a card from a deck of spare cards and drew [Earthbound Spirit], so had to tell a level 4 scary story; not too scary but scary enough. He told a story about a cave in a cliff on the island that had an inlet that, at night, showed a reflection of a card that you wanted. If you reached for it, a dark hand would drag you into the sea!

Yuri personally ascribed that to some sort of strong current or riptide, but it was a good spooky story.

It freaked Chumley out enough to run into the corner, but Jaden looked excited instead.

"Jeez, big bro." Syrus sighed in mild exasperation, "It was a scary story I just told you, ya know?"

"Sorry." The brown-haired boy said sheepishly, "My turn. Hmm…[Sinister Serpent]."

"Tch, lucky you to have to make up an easy story." Syrus sighed.

"Maa, making up stories isn't easy, Syrus." Yuri reminded him.

Jaden's story was about how he had heard the voices of his Duel Monsters cards at night as a kid. Nothing ever came of it though. Though he had been able to hear them again lately.

"That was a flop, big bro." Syrus commented.

"Yeah, not 'licious at all." Chumley added.

"Well, level one is level one after all." The only girl amongst them pointed out reasonably, "My turn….oh-ho. [Sword Hunter], a level seven monster."

"Ooh, a level-seven scary story!" Jaden said enthusiastically. Syrus and Chumley looked nervous.

Pausing to think, a smirk crossed Yuri's face for a moment. "Have you ever heard of the Cursed Cards?"

"""Cursed Cards?""" the three other chorused.

"They're cards that have always caused the owners to lose." Yuri explained, "You can tell which are cursed by the eight-digit number on the bottom left of the cards. The first one was [Reaper of the Cards], with the number 13131313. Whenever the owner plated that card, he always lost, so he took it out of his deck…but it kept mysteriously reappearing in his deck whenever he duelled, and then mysteriously disappearing when he lost the duel."

Syrus looked petrified, as did Chumley. Jaden looked fascinated.

"After over a hundred consecutive losses like this, the owner decided to quit playing Duel Monsters and threw all his cards into the ocean, including [Reaper of the Cards]. But the next day, he woke up…and his cards were all there in their deck box, with [Reaper of the Cards] at the top." Yuri finished.

"GYAAAAHHHH!" Chumley and Syrus shrieked as they scrambled back in fear.

' _Heh. Still got it._ ' Yuri thought smugly. She had always been good at storytelling.

"That was a sweet story!" Jaden said, "How can you tell if a card's a Cursed Card?"

"Hmm? Oh it has to be a number that's one number all the way through." She explained, "Like 77777777 or 66666666. Especially bad ones are with four 13's though, like the [Reaper of the Cards]. Well, the odds of getting a card with that combination of numbers is incredibly low."

"Wh-What do we do if we get a card like that?" Syrus asked in a trembling voice.

"Get rid of it." Yuri told him, "Never use it in a duel, because the curse doesn't activate until you do."

"Sensible advice." A voice said from behind her, making everyone jump.

"Professor Banner! Please don't sneak up on people when they're telling ghost stories!" Yuri said after she calmed down, "You scared the life out of us!"

Lyman Banner was a genial man, with long black hair and glasses. He was almost perpetually smiling, as well as carrying the dorm's mascot cat, Pharaoh, around with him.

"We're playing a game where, depending on the level of the card you draw, you have to tell a scary story." Syrus explained.

"Is that what you were doing? Do you mind if I have a go?" the professor asked. Receiving nods, he drew out…

"[Five-Headed Dragon], a level twelve monster." Yuri said with a shiver. Seto Kaiba hated that card due to the fact it had been used extensively by his former Board of Directors, the Big Five, who had tried to wrest control of Kaiba Corp from him multiple times.

"Give it your best, Prof!" Jaden encouraged.

"That I will do Jaden." Banner assured him, "Let's see…are you three aware of the abandoned dorm on this island?"

"An abandoned dorm?" Yuri and Jaden chorused.

"Never heard of it." Chumley shook his head with Syrus echoing him.

"A long time ago, it was used for the honour students of the Academy, regardless of which dorm they came from." Banner explained, "However…every single student from that dorm mysteriously vanished."

"R-r-r-really?" Syrus squeaked.

"Rumour has it that they were researching the Shadow Games in that dorm." The Alchemy Professor added.

"Sh-Shadow Games?!" Chumley asked as he cowered behind a chair.

"Frightful games activated using legendary items-" Banner explained, but Jaden interrupted him.

"-the Millennium Items, right? But that's just superstition."

"Yugi Moto wore a golden upside-down pyramid around his neck during Duellist Kingdom and Battle City." Yuri put in, "He was known to refer to it as his Millennium Puzzle on several occasions, according to scuttlebutt."

"You are quite correct." Banner nodded, "I do not know the truth of these rumours, however, as by the time I became a teacher here at Duel Academy, the Abandoned Dorm had been made off limits to all personnel, students and staff alike. Now, I think it's about time that everyone headed off to bed. You have classes tomorrow, after all."

With that, Banner took Pharaoh and left the cafeteria.

"Do you think that a place like that really exists on this island?" Syrus asked timorously.

"Sounds fun! Let's go looking tomorrow!" Jaden proposed with a grin.

"Eh?!" Even Yuri let out an exclamation of surprise at that.

"No way!" Syrus whined.

"S-sounds scary…but I still wanna go!" Chumley chimed in.

"I'd better go along with you guys to make sure you don't fall in a lake or something." Yuri mused.

"EH!? Yuri, not you too!?" Syrus wailed.

"Then it's settled!" Jaden declared.

There was much complaining from Syrus as the three boys headed back to their room. Yuri frowned as she wished she had access to the Kaiba Corp database so she could find out what the company investigation team had on this dorm. Somehow, she doubted an entire dorm full of prodigies vanishing into the wind would have gone without investigation.

Sadly, she was in the cold, meaning that she couldn't risk using her own account to access the Kaiba Corp servers and Chancellor Shepard couldn't be counted on to help as he disproved of her mission her, for whatever bizarre reason.

' _So I'm going into this blind. Perfect._ ' She sighed as she entered her room again.

A purring sound struck her as the spirit of Rinyan appeared and rubbed its face on her leg.

"Rinyan…" she said softly as the white and gold monster scampered up her body to curl over her shoulders like a scarf, still purring.

She chuckled. "Yes, I suppose you're right. Things will be fine tomorrow night."

She couldn't really communicate with Rinyan. All she had were flashes of emotions and the occasional picture. What she had felt just now was a wave of comfort and support coming from her Spirit Partner. It (He? She?) seemed to be telling her not to worry.

Well, if her new partner was going that far, Yuri supposed she should take the advice.

 _The Next Day_

 _Vellian Crowler's Office, Duel Academy_

With a smirk, Crowler put a phone safely away in his desk drawer. He had hired the Dark Duellist, Titan, last night and he had just confirmed he was only a few miles away from Academy Island and wished to meet up at the Lighthouse to confirm both his payment and his targets. Crowler would make that Slifer Slacker and arrogant girl regret crossing him! He'd use the old legend of students disappearing to get rid of those pests once and for all.

And, if Titan was unable to complete his end of the deal for any reason, he'd just expel the brats for being out of bounds. Plus he wouldn't have to pay Titan if he failed.

Win-Win, as far as the pale professor was concerned.

That Night

Forest, Academy Island

"Man, the island at night's pretty creepy." Yuri said as she and Jaden lead Syrus and Chumley along a small trail. All of them had torches lit and she noticed Syrus' flickered all over the place as he trembled.

"Yeah, but this is kinda cool though." Jaden replied with a grin.

As they walked through the woods, the three boys argued quietly about studying and duelling, although how the subject came up was quite beyond her. Yuri paused as she spotted a building ahead.

"I think we've found it." She said to the others. As they peered at it, she frowned. The abandoned dorm was about the same size as the Ra Yellow Dorm, with a central round building with a wing on either side. All the windows were smashed and the front doors were hanging on only thanks to rust and a lack of wind. Seriously, the place looked like it wouldn't be out of place in _Resident Evil_.

"Wh-why's there a flower in front of the gate?" Syrus asked when they had trooped up to the empty gateway. Indeed, there was a single rose placed purposefully in front of one of the stone gateposts.

"Why do people usually leave flowers in front of places there have been tragedies in?" Yuri rolled her eyes, "It's a memorial flower, silly."

"Isn't that usually a wreath?" Chumley pointed out.

"Do you _see_ a flower shop on this island?" the blond asked irately, "Whoever put this flower here probably cut it from a rosebush, which are only in the Obelisk Blue and Blue Female Dorms. Only they can get away with vandalism of school property without as much as a word."

A [Snap!] noise from behind them made the group of Slifer Red jump in fright, but it turned out to only be Alexis, who narrowed her eyes at the group.

"Alexis? What're you doing here?" Jaden asked, struggling to throw off Chumley and Syrus, who were cowering behind him.

"She's the one who left the flower." Yuri answered before the other blond could reply.

"How'd you know that?" Alexis asked in surprise.

"The rose is freshly cut, with no signs of wilting of the petals or discolouration on the cut portion of the stem." Yuri rattled off, "As only Blues have access to the right rose bushes and you're the only Blue here, it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to join the dots here."

The Queen of Obelisk Blue frowned at the shortening of the Dorm name. She had always disliked the friction between Obelisk Blue and Slifer Red and had hoped that this new class would be free of such a thing. She couldn't really blame them though. Crowler was far too biased against Slifer Red students that even she could see it.

"That's beside the point. What are you guys doing here?" she asked.

"We came to check out this dorm. A test of courage!" Jaden said.

"I came along to make sure they didn't hurt themselves." Yuri added.

"Don't you know how many students have gone missing in this building?" the taller blond asked tensely.

"I don't believe in that kinda thing." Jaden replied with a slight shrug.

"It's true you know…students have vanished from here." Alexis told them earnestly, "This isn't some place to come for easy-going fun! Besides, it's off-limits. If the Academy staff find out you guys were here, you wouldn't get off with a slap on the wrists, you know."

"We wouldn't be here if we were scared of something like that." Jaden replied confidently.

"Be serious for just a moment, Jaden!" Alexis snapped at him irritably.

"Jeez, lighten up already." The jokester was getting fed up at this point, "So why are you here anyway?"

' _Didn't he hear me say why she was here earlier?_ ' Yuri sweatdropped as she eyed Jaden.

"Grrr…do as you wish!" the other girl growled as she turned away, "My brother was one of the students who vanished. I don't want you guys to vanish like he did."

With that, she walked off.

"Jaden, at some point you are going to apologise to her." Yuri said flatly.

"I…oh." Jaden said when he looked at the rose and put it together with what Alexis had said as she left. "Damn. You're right."

"I'm a girl; I'm always right." The only female of the group replied faux-snootily before grinning to show she was kidding, earning chuckles from her friends.

"Jaden, I thought all the stuff about this dorm was made up." Syrus said in concern, "You sure it's safe?"

"It'll be fine." Jaden asserted, "And we'll find out if it's true or not when we go in. Let's go."

As the small group advanced to the entrance of the dorm building Alexis looked on from the treeline. She didn't know what to make of Jaden. He was serious one minute and a jokester the next.

'I hope nothing happens…' she thought worriedly a she started to turn away. She stopped when a large man wearing a black trench coat of some kind appeared before her. She opened her mouth, to scream or yell she didn't know which, and then everything went black.

 _Inside the Abandoned Dorm_

The interior of the dorm matched the outside. That is to say, run down weather worn and broken. You could still see that it had once been modestly opulent, what with the huge chandelier in the entrance hall, but it felt off. At least, that's how Yuri felt about it.

"Dusty it may be, but it's a step up from the Red Dorm." Jaden said, "Wanna move in here?"

"Not for every rare card on the planet." Yuri replied with a shudder. She paused as she spotted some stone carvings on the wall.

"What's with all these things?" Chumley asked.

"They're the seven Millennium Items." Yuri answered. She pointed at the right-hand tablet and said, "The Millennium Rod, Millennium Necklace, Millennium Eye and Millennium Scales."

Pointing to the left, she continued, "The Millennium Key, Millennium Ring and finally, the Millennium Puzzle. This confirms it; the people here were really either practicing Shadow Games or researching them."

"How do you know so much about this stuff?" Syrus asked in astonishment.

"Eh, there are rumours about Shadow Games and the Millennium Items anywhere that there are Duellists." Yuri shrugged, "It was my hobby to collect those rumours when I was a kid."

It hadn't been, but she couldn't exactly say, 'Oh, I used Kaiba Corp's investigative services to collate any and all information about the Millennium Items because I knew it would piss off Seto Kaiba, who despises and disbelieves any kind of supernatural stuff, especially when it has to do with Duel Monsters' could she?

"Hey guys, check this out!" Jaden pointed his torch at a picture that was hanging on the wall. The picture was of a handsome boy wearing the uniform of a second year Obelisk Blue student. His hair was long and brown, but the set of the face was more than familiar. The signature 'Atticus Rhodes' on the bottom right of the picture confirmed his identity.

"No…no way…" Syrus whispered.

"Alexis' brother…he really did come here!" Chumley said.

"Did you expect her to be lying about that?" Yuri wanted to know, "Her voice was full of pain when she spoke about him."

Suddenly, a shriek echoed through the building, making everyone jump in fright.

"That scream…Alexis!" Yuri cursed, "Jaden!"

"Right! Let's go."

The four freshmen ran down the hall to where the scream had seemed to come from, an old common room by the looks of it.

Jaden knelt down on the floor where the dust had been disturbed and picked up a Duel Monster's card. "This is Alexis' [Etoile Cyber] card!"

"It must have fallen from her deck when she was dragged across the floor." Yuri nodded at the disturbed dust marking a trail on the floor.

"It's heading into this passage." Chumley pointed at a doorway that led into a stone passageway that was radically different from the rest of the building.

The four ran down the passage, calling Alexis' name, but there was no reply. Yuri had a bad feeling about all this. Alexis was a sensible girl who had obviously had no intention of entering the dorms, so why was she here?

At the end of the passage, they entered a large domed chamber. The floor had strange symbols carved into it that looked vaguely alchemical in nature, but the whole place just felt wrong.

Lying in a coffin opposite from them was Alexis, who was clearly unconscious, as she wasn't bound in any form.

"What the hell is going on here?" Yuri muttered as she looked around. This situation felt entirely too contrived to be real and she was waiting for the other boot to fall.

"Alexis!" Jaden shouted and took a step forward. Before he could go any further, mist billowed out of nowhere and a dark and forbidding laugh echoed throughout the cave.

"This one's soul has already sunk into deep darkness." The owner of the voice clearly enjoyed theatrics. Yuri also considered that he might suffer from Chūnibyō, but that was confirmed when he actually appeared, rising out of the mist like a skeleton in a fantasy work would.

He was a tall man, wearing what she recognised as a heavily-modified Duelling Jacket, with a matching hat and a silver half-face mask. He looked very intimidating, she had to give him credit.

"Welcome, Jaden Yuuki and Yuri Yamayuri." The man said solemnly, "I am Titan, the Dark Duellist…and I am here to send you into the Shadows!"

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 **Next Chapter: Enter the Shadows**

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	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: Yo. Chapter 4 here. Not sure about this one, but it's what I've got.**

 **Something I'm going to be doing from now on is undoing some of the name changes that happened when the cards were translated from Japanese to English. The main example in this chapter is the 'Des' in Desrook Archfiend. 'Des' was put in instead of 'Death' which is really stupid. So from here on out, the names will suffer changes to make them more similar to the original names if I feel it is warranted. Enjoy.**

 **My writing schedule is on my profile. Go there before asking in a review or asking me in a PM. Please read and review, but keep it constructive.**

"Duel!" - Regular Speech

' _Tricky…_ ' - Thoughts

 **Chapter 4: Enter the Shadows**

Yuri glared at the man calling himself Titan, with Jaden glaring along with her. Syrus and Chumley were behind them looking anxious.

"Let Alexis go, now!" she growled.

"If you wish to have her, you shall have to defeat me in a duel first." Titan replied, "Her soul is wrapped in darkness, which only my defeat can remove."

"I'll be glad to do that!" Jaden growled.

"Were I to just duel you alone, it would be no challenge." The Dark Duellist said condescendingly, "I shall duel both you and Yuri Yamayuri at once! In a Shadow Game!"

"Get real!" Jaden snorted, "Shadow Games don't exist!"

"Such naiveté…" Titan chuckled menacingly, "We shall see how well you keep that attitude up in the Shadows, boy."

"Jaden, be careful!" Syrus whimpered as Chumley passed Jaden his duel disk.

"No probs, Sy." The jokester assured him, "But I've never duelled two on one before. How does it work?"

"He starts with 8000 life points." Yuri informed him, "It goes me, you, then him, then back to me, with us being unable to attack on our first turns. Plus, if one of us loses, we _both_ lose. Worse still, I've heard of this guy slightly. He plays the ante rule, meaning he takes all his opponent's rare cards once he wins."

"Those I defeat never touch them again, so they are worthless to them." The trench coat-clad man said with a sinister smirk, "Now…do you accept my challenge?"

"As if there was any doubt!" Jaden huffed.

"You're going down, Titan!" the platinum-haired girl growled.

As one, the two deployed their duel disks and inserted their decks, while Titan deployed a duel disk from his Duel Jacket that resembled a bat's wing. Chumley and Syrus stepped back as the duel hologram system activated.

"""Duel!"""

 **Titan – 8000**

 **Jaden – 4000**

 **Yuri – 4000**

"My turn!" Yuri said and drew, "I activate the Magic Card [Reinforcement of the Army]! This allows me to add a four-star or lower warrior-type monster from my deck to my hand!

She did so and then replaced her deck and allowed the auto-shuffler to reshuffle her deck before continuing, "Next, I'll Set a monster in face-down defence mode before ending my turn!"

"My move! Draw!" Jaden said, "I summon [Elemental Hero – Avian] in attack mode!"

A green humanoid monster with wings appeared on the field.

[Elemental Hero – Avian] – Attack: 1000

"I'll then set two cards face down to end my turn!"

"Humph. Not impressive." Titan snorted, "My turn. Draw."

Looking over his cards, he selected one. "I summon [Infernalqueen Archfiend], in attack mode!"

A demonic-looking female monster appeared in front of Titan, wearing bone armour and a ragged purple cloak.

[Infernalqueen Archfiend] – Attack: 900

"An Archfiend deck, eh?" Jaden smirked, "Powerful, but you need to pay life points each turn in order to keep your monsters on the field."

Yuri nodded. Unless Titan had a way to deal with that, he would have to win very quickly in order to beat them…or he would do, were it not for the fact that he had twice the normal amount of life points.

"I think not." Titan chuckled, "Before that, I'll activate my monster's special ability. Once per turn, she can increase the power of an 'Archfiend' monster by a thousand!"

"And as she's the only monster you have, that's where it's going." Yuri finished for him.

[Infernalqueen Archfiend] – Attack: 900 + 1000 = 1900

"Then I shall deal with the slight problem that you pointed out, boy." The man smirked, "I activate the Field Magic Card, [Pandemonium]!"

In a bright flash, the room changed from black rock to red, and the floor became plated in bone. Two giant ram skulls rose out of the ground and faced each other.

"Welcome to the edge of hell…Pandemonium, the Demon's Den." Titan smirked again, "As long as this card is on the field, I no longer have to worry about paying for my monsters to remain on the field. Additionally, it gives my monsters destroyed by means other than battle a way to return to me. I shall lay two cards face down and end my turn."

"My move. Draw!" Yuri said, "I activate the magic Card [Solar Recharge]! I discard a 'Lightsworn' monster before drawing two cards. Then I have to send two cards from the top of my deck to the graveyard.

"Next, I'll Set one card facedown to end my turn."

She was being more cautious than usual, because this man was likely a powerful duellist. Alexis was safe for the moment and Jaden had a plan if those two face-down cards were any indication.

What was puzzling for her was that she was reasonably certain that you had to have one of the seven Millennium Items in order to play a Shadow Game, and from what Mokuba and Seto Kaiba had said in conversations, all seven items had been buried in Egypt years ago. How could he invoke a Shadow Game without them?

"My turn, Draw!" Jaden said and looked at his hand with a slight frown. He still hadn't drawn any other monsters or a [Polymerisation] card. Maybe he'd over-shuffled his deck? Still, he was in a good position, so he'd just reinforce it a bit.

"I'll Set a card facedown and end my turn." He said reluctantly.

"Humph. Still not impressed, kids." Titan sneered, "Draw. I summon [Terrorking Archfiend] in attack mode!"

Covered in bolts of electricity, a red and bone-clade warrior rose up and roared, spreading its bat-like wings in a display of intimidation.

[Terrorking Archfiend] – Attack: 2000

"I cannot summon this card unless I already have an Archfiend monster already summoned." Titan explained, "But as I have [Infernalqueen Archfiend] on my side of the field, it is no obstacle. And I now use her special ability to raise the attack of [Terrorking Archfiend]!"

[Terrorking Archfiend] – Attack: 2000 + 1000 = 3000

"Th-Three-thousand attack points?!" Jaden gaped.

"Now, feel the wrath of my Archfiends! [Terrorking Archfiend], attack [Elemental Hero – Avian] with [Bursting Infernal Organs]!"

Shrieking, the monster spread its arms and opened up its stomach, unleashing a swarm of evil-looking wasps straight at [Avian]

"Not so fast! I activate the trap card [Mirror Gate]!" Jaden called, revealing a card with the picture of a corridor formed of countless mirrors. A bluish energy field started to crackle around [Avian], "Now our monsters switch controllers, so I get your 3000 point monster!"

"Kid, it was obvious that you were drawing me in with your weak little monster." Titan said with a smug air, "I activate the special ability of [Terrorking Archfiend]! [Dice Hell]!"

From the lava pit in the centre of the room, six balls numbered one to six appeared and lined up in a circle next to Titan.

"This is how it goes; I roll a dice every time a card effect of any kind from a card controlled by my opponent targets [Terrorking Archfiend]. If I roll a two or a five, the ability is neutralised and the card responsible is destroyed. Rather than a dice, we'll be using this roulette instead, but it has much the same effect as a dice roll. Now, spin, my roulette of hell!"

A fireball began to spin until it landed on the two.

"The roulette landed on a two! [Mirror Gate] is destroyed!" Titan cried out triumphantly, "[Terrorking Archfiend]! Destroy [Avian] now! [Bursting Infernal Organs]!"

[Terrorking Archfiend] (Attack: 3000) vs. [Elemental Hero – Avian] (Attack: 1000)

[Avian] was swarmed by the bugs before they exploded, destroying him.

 **Jaden: 4000**

"What?! Why have your life points not dropped?!" the Dark Duellist demanded.

"Forget about me, boys?" Yuri asked with a smirk, "I activated a trap card of my own, [Defence Draw]! It didn't stop [Avian] from being destroyed, but it did save Jaden's life points from taking a hit. Additionally, I get to draw a card. Jaden, your turn to trip a trap."

"On it!" the boy grinned, "I activate [Hero Signal]! When a monster is destroyed in battle, I can special-summon any level 4 Elemental Hero from my deck or hand! C'mon out, [Elemental Hero – Clayman]! In defence mode!"

A large warrior seemingly forged from fired clay emerged and kneeled on its card, arms crossed defensively.

[Elemental Hero – Clayman] – Defence: 2000

"That was way too close!" Syrus whispered from the back.

"I'll say!" Chumley agreed.

"Hmm. Not bad. Let's up the ante, shall we?" Titan muttered before he raised something that made Yuri's eyes widen.

' _The Millennium Puzzle! But how?!_ '

"The pair of you, vanish." He said softly as the eye of the upside-down pyramid emitted light that dazzled them, "Let your bodies vanish as you lose life points!"

Yuri shook her head to try and clear the spots from her eyes before glaring at him. "Are you going to grandstand or are you gonna duel?"

"Just for that….[Infernalqueen Archfiend]! Attack her facedown card! [Flames of Hate]!" Titan ordered.

The female monster opened her mouth and unleashed a bolt of flames at the monster card on Yuri's field, which was revealed to be…

"Hah! Thanks for that!" Yuri said with a laugh, "You just destroyed [Ryko, Lightsworn Rogue]! When he's flipped up like this, his special ability activates! It allows me to destroy any card on the field!"

"You wish to play the roulette too?" Titan asked in amusement.

" _Any_ card, not just monster cards." Yuri corrected him, "I choose to destroy [Pandemonium]!"

With a howl, [Ryko] vanished, unleashing a wave of white light that made the field spell shatter and break apart. Yuri then paid the price for the ability by sending the top three cards of her deck to the graveyard.

"Grrr…you will pay for that." Titan promised, "I'll end my turn at that."

"My turn then. Draw." Yuri drew and frowned as she pulled [Wulf, Lightsworn Beast]. Eying her opponent's monsters, she noticed something that made her eyes widen.

' _All of his monsters' attack reverts back to normal when his turn ends! I can't believe I didn't notice that! Time to get rid of his queen._ '

"I summon [Jain, Lightsworn Paladin] in attack mode!" she declared, bringing the warrior forth, "[Jain], attack [Infernalqueen Archfiend] with [Holy Slash]!"

"But its attack…!" Syrus protested.

"Is the same as it is written on its card." Yuri smirked as Titan ground his teeth together.

[Jain, Lightsworn Paladin] (Attack: 1800 + 300 = 2100) vs [Infernalqueen Archfiend] (Attack: 900)

Charging forwards, the paladin leapt into the air before bisecting the Queen right down the middle, making her explode in corrupted flames.

 **Titan: 8000 – 1200 = 6800**

"Che! Again, that is something you shall pay for, girl!" the Dark Duellist spat.

"I'll end my turn at that, paying the cost for [Jain's] upkeep as I do so." Yuri said with a confidence that she wasn't feeling. She hadn't drawn a trap card since [Defence Draw] and was feeling practically naked without them.

"My turn! Draw!" Jaden said, "First off, I'll activate my [Pot of Greed], which lets me draw two cards! Then I'll activate [Polymerisation], fusing the [Elemental Hero – Clayman] on my field with the [Elemental Hero – Sparkman] in my hand! Come on out, [Elemental Hero – Thunder Giant]!"

As the fusion effect happened, Yuri groaned. Jaden _still_ didn't get that Archfiend monsters were protected by that irritating roulette thing. It worked against _all_ types of card effects, except from basic attacks. She just hoped his last facedown card was a good defensive one.

A massive man descended to the ground. Wearing a purple jumpsuit and yellow armour on its arms, legs and body, with a grey helmet and blue visor, the monster certainly looked impressive, which was equalled by its attack power.

[Elemental Hero – Thunder Giant] Attack: 2400

"Now I activate [Thunder Giant's] special ability! When it's summoned, I can use it to destroy one monster on the field with an original attack that was less than his! Go [Vapour Spark]!"

As expected, Titan defended using his [Terrorking Archfiend's] special ability and got lucky again, landing on a five this time and destroying [Thunder Giant].

"Jeez, it's like I can't do anything against him!" Jaden muttered before selecting a card to play, "I activate the Continuous Magic Card [Mirage of Nightmare]! Then I'll Set two more cards to end my turn."

"With a field barren of monsters, what can you do?" Titan scoffed, "And you'll be on the receiving end of some payback as well, girl! My turn, Draw!"

"I activate the effect of [Mirage of Nightmare]!" Jaden called out, "I get to draw until I have four cards in my hand!"

"As if it matters." The Dark Duellist sneered, "Even without [Infernalqueen Archfiend] empowering him, I can still pare your life points halfway down to zero! [Terrorkin-!"

"Hold it!" Yuri said, "As you no longer have [Pandemonium] in play, you have to pay 800 life points to keep [Terrorking Archfiend] in play!"

"Very well." Titan growled.

 **Titan: 6800 – 800 = 6000**

"Now where was I? Ah, yes; [Terrorking Archfiend]! Attack Jaden Yuuki directly with [Bursting Infernal Organs]!" Titan ordered.

Once again, the plague of exploding bugs was belched forth, heading straight for Jaden.

"Not so fast! I activate my trap card [Mirror Force]!" he declared, revealing the shining card, "All of your attack position monsters are destroyed!"

"Nice! Because the target is broadened to all attack position monsters, [Mirror Force] won't activate [Terrorking Archfiend's] special ability!" Chumley exclaimed.

A shining white barrier flickered into place in front of Jaden that redirected the bugs back at their originator, destroying him.

"Stubborn boy!" the Dark Duellist growled angrily.

"You really shouldn't have attacked so carelessly!" Jaden taunted.

"It matters not, as I have planned for this eventuality" Titan smirked, "I activate the effect of the [Death Rook Archfiend] in my hand. Whenever a [Terrorking Archfiend] is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, I can send this card from my hand to the graveyard in order to revive it! Reappear, [Terrorking Archfiend]!"

In a flash of light, the monster was restored to the field.

"I'll give you this, Titan…you certainly know your deck inside and out." Yuri said reluctantly.

"Hmm…now, strike once again, my revived [Terrorking]!" the Dark Duellist ordered, "[Bursting Infernal Organs]!"

Jaden reacted quickly. "I activate [Emergency Provisions] I sacrifice my [Mirage of Nightmare] card to gain a thousand life points!"

 **Jaden: 4000 + 1000 = 5000**

Then the attack struck.

 **Jaden: 5000 – 2000 = 3000**

"Why'd he do that?" Syrus asked in confusion.

"Because the second effect of [Mirage of Nightmare] would've forced him to discard four cards at the start of his next turn." Chumley answered, "I think even if Titan hadn't attacked, Jaden would've used [Emergency Provisions] to get rid of it."

Yuri, hearing this, mentally upgraded her opinion of the repeating boy's knowledge of cards and ability to see people's moves. That was a very likely scenario.

'I'm lucky that Titan chose to take the easy path rather than get revenge on me.' She thought before she caught sight of Jaden and her jaw dropped. "Jaden! Your body!"

Looking down, the boy's eyes widened in shock as well. Over two-fifths of his body was missing.

"This is what happens if you take a Shadow Game lightly, boy!" the Dark Duellist gloated bombastically, "I'll end my turn with that."

"My turn, draw!" Yuri said, then her eyes widened as she saw that she had drawn [Rinyan]. Her Duel Spirit's form bounced into existence and meowed at her encouragingly.

' _Thanks, partner._ ' She thought before returning her attention to the duel, "[Jain, Lightsworn Paladin]! Attack [Terrorking Archfiend] with [Holy Slash]!"

[Jain, Lightsworn Paladin] (Attack: 1800 + 300 = 2100) vs. [Terrorking Archfiend] (Attack: 2000)

With a roar, the Fiend-type monster attacked the incoming paladin with its bug attacks before taking up its sword to try and block the attack. With a mighty cleave, [Jain] shattered its opponent's weapon and cut it in half.

 **Titan: 6000 – 100 = 5900**

"Tch. I discard another [Death Rook Archfiend] in order to revive [Terrorking Archfiend]!" Titan growled.

"Man, you really are a one-trick pony." Yuri snorted, "I'll Set a monster into defence mode before ending my turn, paying for [Jain's] upkeep as I do."

She place [Rinyan] on the field before milling two more cards.

"I'll take it from here! Draw!" Jaden said, "I'll play the magic card [The Warrior Returning Alive], which allows me to return one warrior-type monster to my hand from my graveyard. I'll choose [Avian] and fuse it with the [Burstinatrix] in my hand to form [Elemental Hero – Flame Wingman]!"

In a flash of light, the monster that had defeated Crowler appeared on the field, white wing and dragon head arm ready and willing.

[Elemental Hero – Flame Wingman] Attack: 2100

"Since Yuri's been clobbering you in direct battles, I think I'll follow her lead!" Jaden said with a glare, "[Flame Wingman], attack [Terrorking Archfiend] with [Flame Shot]!"

[Elemental Hero – Flame Wingman] (Attack: 2100) vs. [Terrorking Archfiend] (Attack: 2000)

Pointing its dragon-headed hand at [Terrorking Archfiend], [Wingman] unleashed a powerful blast of fire that engulfed the fiend and destroyed it.

 **Titan: 5900 – 100 = 5800**

"That isn't all either!" the Hero Duellist continued, "Now [Flame Wingman's] special ability activates! Whenever he destroys a monster in battle, you take damage equal to the attack of your monster!"

 **Titan: 5800 – 2000 = 3800**

"A good effort, but just that much will not destroy my Archfiends!" Titan said as parts of his body started to fade as well, "I activate the Trap Card [Archfiend's Revenge]. Whenever I am dealt the same amount of damage from an attack twice in a row, I merely have to discard a card and I can revive a monster form my graveyard. Return once more, [Terrorking Archfiend]!"

"Ya know, I am _really_ getting sick of that card." Yuri muttered to Jaden, who nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. We've killed the thing how many times now?" the hero Duellist shook his head in frustration, "I summon [Dark Catapulter] in defence mode before I end my turn."

A black and purple monster appeared and crossed its arms defensively. Yuri had to raise an eyebrow at Jaden using a card that wasn't an Elemental Hero.

[Dark Catapulter] Defence: 1500

"It's my turn…draw!" Titan looked at the card he drew and smirked, "I pay the 800 life points for the last time in order to keep my [Terrorking Archfiend] on the field.

 **Titan: 3800 – 800 = 3000**

"I activate the magic card [Pot of Greed], allowing me to draw two more cards." The Dark Duellist said and did so, "I then activate the magic card [Terraforming], which allows me to bring a field magic card from my deck to my hand. I think you can guess which it is?"

"[Pandemonium] again!" Yuri growled.

"Indeed. I shall now activate it." Titan said and soon the eerie world of [Pandemonium] was restored.

"Next, I shall sacrifice [Terrorking Archfiend] in order to summon [Skull Archfiend of Lightning]!"

In an explosion of electricity, a great winged red demon with horns and bone plating appeared on the field, shrouded by its lightning power.

[Skull Archfiend of Lightning] Attack: 2500

"I shall then reveal my face-down card, [Archfiend's Roar]. By paying 500 life points, I can summon an Archfiend from my graveyard. Return to the field, [Terrorking Archfiend]!"

With a roar, the monster was back in place.

"This…is gonna suck." Yuri winced.

"[Skull Archfiend of Lightning], remove that eyesore of a monster from my sight!" Titan ordered, pointing at [Flame Wingman], "[Furious Imperial Shock]!"

[Skull Archfiend of Lightning] (Attack: 2500) vs. [Elemental Hero - Flame Wingman] (Attack: 2100)

With an explosive burst of lightning, [Flame Wingman] was sent to the graveyard.

 **Jaden: 3000 – 400 = 2600**

The boy collapsed onto his knees as the Puzzle glowed again, but got back up after a bare moment, smirking. Scowling at that, the Dark Duellist turned to Yuri.

"Do not think I have forgotten about you, girl!" Titan smirked, "[Terrorking Archfiend], attack that pesky knight! [Bursting Infernal Organs]!"

[Terrorking Archfiend] (Attack: 2000) vs. [Jain, Lightsworn Paladin] (Attack: 1800)

With an explosion of multiple bugs, [Jain] vanished from the field.

 **Yuri: 4000 – 200 = 3800**

The platinum blond girl looked on in horrified fascination as her left hand vanished before she recovered her composure and glared at a smug-looking Titan, who waved the damn Puzzle at her like a hypnotist's coin.

Wait a minute…

"Wow…a whole _two-hundred_ life points." Yuri said sarcastically, "Bet that's an all-time high for you."

"Turn end." The man ground out, "At which point, [Terrorking Archfiend] is destroyed because of the effect of [Archfiend's Roar]. I discard my last [Death Rook Archfiend] in order to revive him!"

"My turn then. Draw!" she said and smirked. "First off, I'll activate my [Pot of Avarice] magic card, which allows me to select five monsters in my graveyard, shuffle them back into my deck and then draw two cards."

Doing so, she grinned. That would do nicely for her next turn, but for now…

"I summon [Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior] in defence mode!" she announced. The warrior appeared on his knees, with his halberd interposed between himself and the enemy.

"I have to end turn there and as I have seven cards, I'll discard one of them." She sent [Wulf] there as he was a bit useless in her hand.

"My turn now! Draw!" Jaden said. A bright light appeared on [Dark Catapulter's] head.

"I activate the special ability of [Dark Catapulter]!" the Hero duellist said, "By removing from play monster cards from my graveyard equal to the number of counters he has on him, he can destroy an equal number of magic or trap cards on the field. I'll remove [Elemental Hero – Avian] from play to activate his effect! Say bye-bye to [Pandemonium]…again! Go [Volley Shoot]!"

In an explosion of light, they were once again in the underground duelling arena beneath the Abandoned Dorm.

"Grr…look at this!" Titan said, raising his Puzzle once again.

"Hey, check my card, willya?" Jaden asked faux-politely and threw it at the Puzzle, cutting through the eye and shutting off the lightshow. In a flash, Jaden and Yuri's missing body parts were restored.

"As I thought." Yuri said in disgust.

"You saw it too, eh?" Jaden smirked at her.

"What…just happened?" Syrus asked.

"This guy is no Dark Duellist." Yuri answered, "He's a hypnotist."

"Yeah, it probably comes from that stupid roulette and is triggered by the lightshow from that 'Millennium Puzzle' that he waves around." Jaden added.

"I _am_ a Dark Duellist!" Titan insisted, "I trap people in the Shadow Games!"

"Well then, a quiz seems appropriate here." Yuri remarked.

"Yeah. If you are a Dark Duellist, you'll definitely know this one." Jaden said, "How many of that thing that you're holding are there?"

"How…how many Millennium Items are there?" the man stammered before recovering, "Why, there are seven!"

Yuri blinked. He actually got it right. Could he actually be…?

"Do you get it now?" Titan smirked, "I am a Dark Duellist, the holder of one of the seven Millennium Puzzles in this world!"

She relaxed. No, he was just an idiot.

"Hate to burst your bubble, but you're wrong there." She smirked at him.

"Say what?!"

"There _are_ seven Millennium Items, but only _one_ of them is a Puzzle." Jaden informed him, "You're nothing but a cheating scumbag!"

"Tch. If you've seen through my trick, then there is no point in duelling you further." Titan growled and threw down the fake-Puzzle, which exploded in dark smoke.

"Hold it!" Jaden started to run forward.

Yuri froze as she saw the serpent statues around the outside of the room start to glow before they shot a beam of light that met in the centre of the room, creating a familiar symbol.

"The symbol of the Millennium Items?!" she yelled, "Titan you idiot! You've drawn the Shadow Realm to us!"

Moments later, the three of them were engulfed in black smoke that cut them off completely from Syrus and Chumley.

"Wha…what is this?" Titan demanded.

"You kept saying you were a Dark Duellist who played Shadow Games in a place where people had _disappeared_ before while playing Shadow Games." Yuri told him angrily, "By saying it so much and then attempting to flee, you called the Shadows to us! This may not have been a Shadow Game before, but it is now!"

Suddenly dark balls of black muck fell from nowhere and started attacking Titan.

"No! No! Help me!" he begged before being snowed under by them.

Yuri and Jaden looked around nervously as more of the things started to encroach on them. Luckily for them though, [Winged Kuriboh] and [Rinyan] appeared around their respective partners and drove them back.

"Whoa! Yuri? When'd you get a Duel Spirit?" Jaden asked.

"First night here. You?" she asked as she eyed the three-toed fur ball.

"Just before the Exam." Jaden replied, "I think it was this little guy who let me see through Titan's trick earlier."

"Kuri-kuri!" the cheerful winged ball of fur nodded.

Suddenly, most of the black balls were sucked into Titan, whose eyes started to glow red.

"Oi! Are you alright?" Jaden asked.

"Don't bother. If what I'm seeing is right, he's been possessed by the shadows." Yuri warned him, "He shouldn't have come to this island or this dorm."

"Well then…Jaden Yuuki, Yuri Yamayuri…shall we continue the duel…with a true Shadow Game?" Titan said, his voice slightly darker than before.

"There is no-!" Jaden started.

"Jaden, enough!" Yuri cut him off, "There _is_ such a thing as a Shadow Game and we are now stuck in it. Only one side can walk away from one alive, either you and me or Titan. We have to win, our lives depend on it! Rinyan, keep those things away from me!"

"Mrow." The white cat-like creature meowed before hissing at the black balls of shadow-dwellers, who retreated from her partner.

"Once a Shadow Game has begun, there is no retreat until one side is victorious." Titan said, "Now…let us continue."

"Fine then. I'll just beat you down, as it's still my turn." Jaden said, "I activate [Monster Reincarnation] by discarding a card from my hand. It lets me add a monster from the graveyard to my hand. I'll choose [Elemental Hero – Sparkman] and summon him in defence mode before ending my turn."

"My turn, draw." Titan said emotionlessly.

""Remember to pay for [Skull Archfiend of Lightning] and [Terrorking Archfiend] now that [Pandemonium] is gone!" Jaden called with a smirk.

 **Titan: 3000 – 1300 = 1700**

"[Skull Archfiend of Lightning], attack [Dark Catapulter]! [Furious Imperial Shock]!"

In an explosion of lightning, the hapless shield monster vanished in an explosion that rocked Jaden back on his heels.

"What the heck?!" he said.

"This is a Shadow Game, Jaden." Yuri said, "All the monsters are real here. And their attacks can seriously hurt you."

"[Terrorking Archfiend], destroy [Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior]! [Bursting Infernal Organs]!" He continued.

The bugs struck at Garoth, making him explode into pieces. Yuri was driven back by the force of the blast; she could feel the heat from the explosion.

"I'll summon [Vilepawn Archfiend] in attack mode." Titan continued, "Then I shall activate [Magical Stone Excavation]. By discarding two cards to the graveyard, I can return a magic card from the graveyard to my hand. I will then activate this card…[Pandemonium]."

[Vilepawn Archfiend] Attack: 1200

"Not again!" Yuri groaned as the familiar scenery of [Pandemonium] appeared around them. She looked curiously at the new monster, which was vaguely humanoid. Its left arm was thick, like a natural shield, while the other was a sword.

"I'll set two cards facedown and end my turn at that." Titan said emotionlessly.

' _Great. I can't be dragged into the shadows, not here._ ' Yuri thought, ' _First thing to go has to be that souped-up Summoned Skull knockoff._ '

"My turn, draw!" she drew and thought about her plan.

"Will you vanish if I send your card to the graveyard?" she asked her partner, who shook its head.

"Good." The blond smiled, "I flip-summon [Rinyan, Lightsworn Rogue] into attack mode!"

A copy of Rinyan appeared where the facedown card had been.

[Rinyan, Lightsworn Rogue] – Attack: 100

"I activate Rinyan's special ability." She continued, "I select one Lightsworn monster in my graveyard and return it to my deck, shuffle and then draw a card."

Doing so, Yuri then moved on, "I now sacrifice [Rinyan] in order to summon [Gragonith, Lightsworn Dragon] in attack mode!"

A beautiful white dragon clad in white and gold armour, with long golden hair tumbling down its back, appeared on her side of the field.

"[Gragonith] receives 300 extra attack points for each differently named Lightsworn monster in my graveyard." Yuri said, "And currently, I have two!"

[Gragonith, Lightsworn Dragon] – Attack: 2000 + 600 = 2600

"Now, let's get rid of that pesky [Skull Archfiend of Lightning]!" Yuri said with a smirk, only to frown when Titan shook his head.

"As long as [Vilepawn Archfiend] is on the field, you can only attack it." He said.

"Fine! [Gragonith], attack [Vilepawn Archfiend] with [Blessed Breath]!" Yuri growled.

[Gragonith, Lightsworn Dragon] (Attack: 2600) vs. [Vilepawn Archfiend] (Attack: 1200)

"I activate the trap card [Enchanted Javelin]." Titan said tonelessly, "It allows me to add the attack points of an enemy monster to my life points."

 **Titan: 1700 + 2600 = 4300**

The immense dragon unleashed a beam of purifying white energy that annihilated the weak monster instantly.

 **Titan: 4300 – 1400 = 2900**

"Tch. I'll set a card facedown and end my turn. And as I have seven cards in my hand, I have to discard one." Yuri said, "I'll choose _this_ one, which, as it is a Lightsworn monster, will increase [Gragonith's] attack once again."

[Gragonith, Lightsworn Dragon] – Attack: 2600 + 300 = 2900

"I also have to pay three cards from my deck in order to keep my dragon on the field." Yuri did so, "Oh? Another Lightsworn? My dragon is powered up again."

[Gragonith, Lightsworn Dragon] – Attack: 2900 + 300 = 3200

"It's my turn! Draw!" Jaden declared, "I'll sacrifice [Sparkman] in order to summon [Elemental Hero – Bladedge] in attack mode!"

A man in golden armour appeared, blades attached to his forearms and golden wing-like objects attached to his back.

[Elemental Hero – Bladedge] – Attack: 2600

"I've had just about enough of that [Terrorking Archfiend]! [Bladedge], destroy it! [Power Edge Attack]!" The Hero Duellist ordered.

[Elemental Hero – Bladedge] (Attack: 2600) vs. [Terrorking Archfiend] (Attack: 2000)

[Bladedge] flew past [Terrorking Archfiend], making a pair of quick cuts that quartered the monster before it exploded into pieces.

 **Titan: 2900 – 600 = 2300**

"I'll throw down a facedown to end my turn." Jaden said with a nod.

"It's my turn now. Draw." Titan said monotonously, "I activate the Magic Card [Trade In]. I send one level 8 monster from my hand to the graveyard and I draw two cards."

Doing so, he smirked.

"I play the Magic Card [Monster Reborn] in order to bring to the field [Winged Minion] in attack mode."

A small blue imp-like creature appeared in front of Titan.

[Winged Minion] – Attack: 700

"I then activate its special ability; I sacrifice it and send it to the graveyard and I am allowed to designate any one fiend-type monster to receive a 700 point boost to both its attack and defence for as long as it is face-up on the field, and I choose [Skull Archfiend of Lightning]!"

[Skull Archfiend of Lightning] – Attack: 2500 + 700 = 3200 Defence: 1200 + 700 = 1900

"Now, [Skull Archfiend of Lightning]! Remove that golden monstrosity! [Furious Imperial Shock]!"

"Not so fast! I activate [Hero Barrier]!" Jaden called out. The trap turned into a whirling windmill that absorbed the attack from the [Summoned Skull] look-alike, "As long as I control an Elemental Hero on my side of the field, I can use this to negate one attack!"

"Tch. How stubborn." The possessed 'Dark Duellist' said with a scowl, "I'll end my turn."

"OK then. I'm going to finish this lunacy once and for all this turn…draw!" Yuri said and drew, willing for one card in particular. [Gragonith] was equal in terms of attack power with [Skull Archfiend of Lightning] and she didn't think that Titan was stupid enough to attack any other Lightsworn monsters now that he knew that they granted [Gragonith] extra attack points. There was one card that could turn this around; she just needed to draw it.

Looking at the card she drew, Yuri's face lit up. She had done it!

"Let's finish this!" she snarled, "I sacrifice [Gragonith, Lightsworn Dragon] in order to summon [Celestia, Lightsworn Angel]!"

"What?!" Jaden and Titan were astonished by this move. Why was she sacrificing her most powerful monster like that?

In an explosion of light, [Gragonith] vanished and a female monster appeared floating in mid-air before Yuri. Clad in a white robe, white and gold armour and carrying a golden staff, with her slate-blue hair cascading behind her and her pure white wings spread to either side of her. She looked glorious, and the light she emitted made the horde of small demon-shadow things retreat further from her summoner.

[Celestia, Lightsworn Angel] – Attack: 2300

"When summoned, [Celestia] can activate her special ability by me sending four cards from the top of my deck to the graveyard, like so." Yuri said as she quickly sent four cards to the graveyard, "It allows me to destroy and two cards on the field…and I choose [Pandemonium] and [Skull Archfiend of Lightning]!"

"[Pandemonium] is one thing, but my monster has its protection effect." Titan said, slightly smugly, "If the roulette lands on a one, three or six, your special ability is negated and your angel is destroyed!"

As the roulette turned, Yuri thought about what she would do if the odds went against her.

' _If [Celestia] is destroyed, I'll use my facedown card [Glorious Illusion] to bring back [Gragonith], which will be 300 points stronger thanks to [Celestia] being in the graveyard, so he'll be able to destroy [Skull Archfiend of Lightning] and leave Titan open to a finishing attack from Jaden._ '

As it turned out, she didn't need to worry. The roulette landed on a two, meaning [Celestia's] effect activated without a problem.

"Go [Radiant Light of Purification]!"

Twirling her staff around, [Celestia] brought its butt down hard on the ground, unleashing a dome of light that grew to engulf all of [Pandemonium], including [Skull Archfiend of Lightning]. With a last scream, the powerful fiend vanished into dust.

"My monster! No!" Titan said, shaken, as the Shadow Realm returned to vision around the three duellists.

"This attack will finish it! [Celestia], attack Titan directly with [Ray of Purification]!" Yuri ordered.

Raising her staff, [Celestia] fired a strong beam of light that struck Titan head on, bathing him in white for a moment.

 **Titan: 2300 – 2300 = 0000**

"And, to quote Jaden, that's game." Yuri grinned.

"Sweet move!" Jaden cheered.

Titan collapsed to his knees as the dark-shadow monsters started to coalesce around him, dragging him to the loser's punishment for losing a Shadow Game.

"No! This is impossible! Shadow Games…really exist?!" Titan wailed before he was swallowed up by the little monsters.

"Jaden! We need to get outta here!" the girl said in concern, "I don't like the looks these guys are giving us!"

Indeed, the shadow-demons were creeping ever closer, despite Winged Kuriboh and Rinyan's best efforts.

"Kuri-kuri!" Winged Kuriboh pointed at a crack of light in the darkness behind Jaden.

"This way!" Jaden collapsed his Duel Disk and headed for the aperture, with Yuri on his heels. They forced their way out of the dark bubble that had taken centre stage in the underground arena.

"jay! Yuri!" Syrus called as he and Chumley hurried over to them.

"Yo. Keep you waiting?" Yuri asked flippantly.

Chumley looked around, then his eyes widened as he looked at the bubble, which had started to contract and also shoot off lightning. "Get down!" he yelled.

Yuri and Jaden hit the ground and Chumley did the same with Syrus, using his larger body to keep the slight boy anchored. Yuri noticed the coffin that Alexis was in was being dragged toward the shrinking sphere and grabbed Jaden. Together, they weighed the coffin down and stopped it from moving. In a few seconds more, the dark bubble of the portal to the Shadow Realm contracted into nothing and vanished.

"What happened to that big guy?" Syrus asked.

"He was swallowed by the Shadows for losing a Shadow Game." Yuri replied.

"I still say there's no such thing as Shadow Games." Jaden insisted stubbornly, "I'll bet he ran."

Yuri shook her head at his stubbornness. "Look, let's just get Alexis out of here. This place is dangerous even if you're being too stubborn for words to believe me."

Saying that, Yuri picked up Alexis in a bridal carry and led the way out. She was actually a lot lighter than she looked for her height. The platinum blond supposed that it was mostly her long legs that gave the Queen of Obelisk Blue her height, which factored in.

Sitting her against a tree, Yuri retreated and let Jaden kneel next to the formerly kidnapped girl as she came to.

"Uuuugghhh…" she groaned as she woke up, "J…Jaden? Yuri? Syrus? Chumley? What…?"

"You got hit with chloroform." Yuri said gently as she stood next to Jaden, "Some whackjob kidnapped you to lure Jaden and me into a duel. We beat him and retreated, but it looks like you were right about how dangerous this dorm is. The guy was devoured by the Shadows."

Alexis looked up in startled worry. "What happened?"

Between the four of them, the Slifer Reds told her about the duel with Titan, including his cheap hypnosis and the ultimate fate of the fraudulent Dark Duellist (which Jaden and Yuri still argued over).

"See! I told you guys that this place was no joke." Alexis said as she stood up, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Hey, I came along to keep these three out of trouble." Yuri pointed out before yawning, "Besides, you came here too. Granted, you didn't go in under your own power, but you wouldn't have been kidnapped if you weren't here."

"Oh, by the way, we found these inside." Jaden said. He pulled out her [Etoile Cyber] card and the signed picture of her brother and handed them over to her.

"Atticus!" Alexis said with wide eyes, "That's his handwriting!"

"I kinda wanted to apologise for being rude to you earlier, so I looked all over the place while we were in there." The Hero Duellist said embarrassedly, "But that picture and your card there was all I could find. Sorry."

"No…thanks." Alexis smiled, "I haven't got a picture of him while he was at the Academy, so this…this is great."

Yuri smiled sadly at that before she spotted the sun coming over the horizon. "Hate to break up the feel-good moment guys, but dawn's gonna happen in a few minutes."

"Gah! We'd better get back to the dorms before the Discipline Committee catches us!" Syrus yelped.

"Later, Alexis!" Jaden yelled as he led the foursome back to the Slifer Red Dorm at a run.

Alexis shook her head at the antics of the three boys and the girl before heading back to the Obelisk Blue Girl's Dorm. Her thoughts, when not focussed on sneaking back in past Professor Fontaine, strayed to Jaden.

 **JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ**

 **Next Chapter: Double Duel and Time to PaniK**

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	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: OK, so, this is the quickest I have** _ **ever**_ **updated this story. Why? Because I felt like it and had the creative juices flowing to write it.**

 **Last chapter, I had a nasty little flamer (screw you by the way, if you're reading this), who left a guest review basically insulting my stories and writing skill. None of that now, if you please. Either review and leave constructive criticism or keep your words to yourself.**

 **This chapter has a lot of invented cards in it, mostly because none of the ones available were what I was looking for. Should I put up a list and description of them? Let me know.**

"Duel!" - Regular Speech

' _Tricky…_ ' - Thoughts

 **Chapter 4: Double Duel and Time to PaniK**

 _Early Morning_

 _Discipline Room_

Yuri yawned as she glared up grumpily at the three large screens looming above her, Jaden and Syrus. In the centre was Chancellor Shepard, on the right was the as-yet nameless head of the Duel Academy Disciplinary Committee, a woman dressed in a green version of a Duel Academy uniform, with a beret and a half-cape added. On the left, Vellian Crowler sneered down at them.

Other teachers were using other screens behind them, but these three were the main judges.

" _This inquiry is in session._ " The woman said, glowering down at them.

Jaden opened his mouth and was about to speak, when Yuri put up a hand, signalling him to silence.

"I'll handle this, you guys." She said grimly.

"OK." Syrus said uneasily. Jaden nodded too.

"OK. First off, I have a question here…why is there no mention of a Discipline Committee in the Duel Academy Student Handbook?" she began, making the woman frown.

" _I beg your pardon?_ "

The platinum blond pulled out her copy and leafed through it as a demonstration. "Not a single page in here refers to any sort of Discipline Committee being a part of the Academy staff or as a student organisation. It's why I refused to open my door to you and why two of your men have black eyes that I dished out _after you blew my door up!_ "

" _A simple bad copy._ " Crowler sniffed.

"Nope. I checked Jaden and Syrus' copies on the walk over here; no mention of the Discipline Committee there either." Yuri countered, "So, with respect, I am _not_ going to pay for a replacement after you idiots blowing up my door. Also, I would like to know exactly where you stand in the staff hierarchy. Are you simply students or are you staff? What is the limit of your authority?"

The girl saw the Chancellor's eyes narrow and hid a smirk. He had figured out what she had; that someone had deliberately issued bad Student Handbooks out to the Slifer Red Students, missing critical information about the staff structure.

" _I will have copies of the Handbook reissued to the Slifer students as there was apparently a quality control issue._ " Shephard said with a frown, " _The Disciplinary Committee are staff members with limited authority unless otherwise authorised by one of the Dorm Heads or myself. They are somewhat nebulous in the hierarchy, but are generally seen as just below the Dorm Heads in terms of seniority._ "

"Thank you, Chancellor." Yuri bowed her head slightly, "Now, onto the Committee Chairwoman's timeline of events…certainly, we broke curfew. We intended to undertake a test of courage. Even had we not, though, I suspect we would have been lured out there anyway."

" _What do you mean?_ " the Chairwoman asked with narrowed eyes.

"No sooner than we set foot inside the building did we hear a scream…a _female_ scream." The blond said grimly, "We recognised the voice as belonging to Obelisk Blue Student Alexis Rhodes and went to investigate. In the basement of the Abandoned Dorm, we found her locked in a coffin with a man identifying himself as Titan, a supposed Dark Duellist who played Shadow Games."

A mutter went up among the staff while the Chairwoman looked disbelieving.

" _You expect us to believe that you had a Shadow Game?_ "

"I _expect_ nothing from you except for you to listen." Yuri replied, "What I find curious is you do not seem concerned about an Obelisk Blue student being out of bounds…or the fact that this man Titan must have infiltrated the Girl's Dorm in order to capture her to use as bait."

Professor Fontaine frowned at that. " _I agree that it is a disturbing possibility. I will ask Miss Rhodes about the subject once this investigation is over._ "

"And yet three Slifer Reds are given no presumption of innocence." The only female Slifer grumbled, "To return to my narrative, Titan told us if we wanted Alexis back, we -Jaden and I specifically- would have to duel him for her. Having no way to physically overpower him, Jaden and I accepted."

" _You are implying that this man came to Academy Island specifically to duel the two of you._ " The Chancellor stated.

"Yep. Check our Duel Disk's duel logs if you don't believe we had a Duel." Jaden butted in. All Academy Duel Disks had an on-board computer that stored data on the details of the last ten duels that had been played with it.

" _We are in the process of doing so._ " The Committee Chairwoman grimaced, " _Thus far, their story seems to bear up, at least so far as them duelling against someone there goes._ "

Another avalanche of mutters went up amongst the teachers at that, with Crowler scowling.

"Titan was a fiend-monster user, specifically the Archfiend archetype." Yuri continued on, "He was…quite skilled. At the midway point of the duel, we figured out that the so-called Shadow Game was him putting us under a form of hypnosis. He attempted to flee when we found out his tricks, then….then a _real_ Shadow Game started."

" _Nonsense!_ " Crowler snorted.

"Then do explain where every member of that dorm vanished to, 'Doctor' Crowler." Yuri growled, "Anyway, to cut to the chase, Jaden and I beat him, he vanished and we left, returning to our dorms once Alexis woke up. Only to be woken up at the crack of dawn by her."

" _As…illuminating as your tale is, the consequence for breaking curfew is immediate expulsion._ " The Chairwoman said firmly.

"Again, no punishments are discussed or even mentioned in our copies of the Handbook." Yuri countered, "Ignorance of the rules is hardly an excuse, but when the rules and their punishments are deliberately or not-so-deliberately hidden from you, I would say that it is a plausible excuse."

" _I agree._ " Chancellor Shepard said with a sigh.

" _Sir?!_ " the Chairwoman and Crowler squawked in surprise.

" _As Miss Yamayuri states, ignorance of the rules isn't an excuse for breaking them. That being said, they had little to no way of confirming those rules as their main source for those rules was compromised._ " The Chancellor explained, " _I agree that they must be punished, but what to do? Hmm…_ "

" _I have an idea, Chancellor._ " Crowler put in with a smug smirk.

" _Oh? Then let's hear it, Vellian._ " Shepard said.

" _This is an Academy for Duelling. If Miss…Yamayuri is to be believed, then she and…Jaden Yuuki here…fought off a professional duel hitman._ " Crowler grimaced as if he were sucking a lemon before his smirk returned, " _Let them_ duel _for the right to stay at the Academy and let them prove their skills. If they win, all charges will be cleared. If they lose, they get expelled immediately._ "

Jaden, Syrus and Yuri exchanged puzzled looks. That…actually sounded _fair_ , coming from _Crowler_ of all people.

" _A Capital idea!_ " Shepard boomed enthusiastically, " _Well? What do you three say?_ "

"What are the terms of the duels?" Yuri asked.

" _Syrus Truesdale and Jaden Yuuki are to form a tag-team and duel against opponents that will be revealed to you later._ " Crowler said smugly, " _While Yuri Yamayuri is to duel alone against her opponent!_ "

"What's the catch?" the girl asked suspiciously.

If anything, his grin should be making the top of his head fall off. " _You are not permitted to use your precious Lightsworn deck. You must build a new deck and submit it for approval first._ "

"Hey! That's-!" Jaden spoke up angrily before Yuri shot him a 'shut up!' look.

"That's perfectly acceptable, Doctor Crowler." she answered smoothly, "For my part, I accept your challenge. I'll submit my new deck to the Chancellor as soon as possible."

"We're in too." Jaden added. Syrus moaned.

"We're gonna get expelled!"

 _Later_

 _Chancellor's Office_

Chancellor Shepard sighed as Chumley Huffington and Alexis Rhodes stood in front of his desk, both confessing to have been at the Abandoned Dorm with Jaden, Syrus and Yuri.

"So you are saying that Yuri _lied_ to protect me?" Alexis asked when he showed them the recording of the interrogation.

"Evidently she did." Shepard agreed, "What actually happened?"

"I went to put a flower at the Dorm…you know, for Atticus." The Queen of Obelisk Blue said sadly, "I met up with Jaden's group and stormed off when Jaden grew irritating. I watched them enter and then turned to leave. Then…there was this large man in front of me…and the next thing I know, I'm waking up sitting against a tree feeling groggy."

"Chloroform." Shepard sighed, "Or some derivative thereof. Listen, I am glad you both came to confess and take part in the duels, and I understand your feelings on the matter, but the punishment is in the record now, made ironclad by the Board of Inquiry. I couldn't alter it now if I wanted to."

Both Chumley and Alexis looked disappointed at this.

"What you _can_ do is support your friends." The Chancellor said kindly, "Here, this is a requisition order for card packs. I know for a fact that Miss Yamayuri only has a handful of spare cards. Nowhere near enough to make up a new deck. Go to Dorothy, hand this over and she'll give you the packs I asked her to lay aside."

"Are you sure sir?" Chumley asked nervously, "Won't the Discipline Committee be angry that you're helping someone they're punishing?"

"All I am doing is providing resources to a student who requires them. Nothing more." Shepard stated firmly, "As she did, it seems, successfully help in driving off a Duelling Hitman and uncover the fact that Shadow Games are actually possible without the Millennium Items, this is a reasonable reward for her. Once he wins his duel, there will be a similar reward for young Jaden as well."

"Will Yuri even accept our help?" Alexis asked, "I mean…I've seen her in class and at lunch. She doesn't exactly go out of her way to talk to people. Heck, the only people she seems to talk to seems to be Jaden and his friends."

"She can be…standoffish, I will admit." Shepard acknowledged, "But she deliberately omitted any mention of Mr Huffington from the proceedings and outright _lied_ about your place in the incident. I doubt she would do that for someone she dislikes. Conversely, I rather think she likes the both of you."

That seemed to encourage the two, and they left his office at a brisk walk. Shepard sighed. He had a sneaking suspicion that Vellian had something to do with this situation, he had always been…disdainful of the Slifer Red students, and this situation with the tag duel and the other duel was too pre-prepared for it to be anything other than his plan the entire time.

Still, Yuri and Jaden were the two best duellists in the new intake of Slifer Reds, possibly the best in the whole dorm. They had also helped Mr Huffington regain some of his willingness to duel compared to the latter part of his first year.

He had a _good_ feeling about the outcome of this pair of duels.

 _Later_

 _Yuri's Room, Slifer Red Dorm_

"Thirty cards…crap." The platinum blond duellist sighed in frustration. She had only brought her deck with her to the Academy, with the thirty extra cards being leftovers from the Rank-Up challenge packs. What was more; most of them were trap or magic cards, with a couple of low-level monsters thrown in for variety.

She had known this when she had accepted the challenge, but it had really been driven home when she returned to the dorm. Some of the effects that the cards had were cool though.

"Better go and see if I can buy some packs from Dorothy." She sighed and stood up. Thankfully, her door had been replaced already, which was a relief. Stupid trigger-happy campus police idiots.

The knock came just as she reached the door. Puzzled, she opened it up to see Alexis and Chumley standing there with a bag full to the brim with card packs.

"Err…hi guys." She said, blinking in surprise, "What's up?"

"The Chancellor asked us to deliver these card packs to you." Alexis said with a smile as she handed the bag over. Looking inside it, Yuri could see that there were plenty of packs inside, more than enough to build a deck from, likely.

"Why…?" she said, stunned.

"A reward for driving that Titan guy away." Chumley replied, "If Jaden and Syrus win their duel, Jaden'll get some too. Where are those two anyway?"

"Jaden took Syrus for a practice duel out back." Yuri replied as she stepped back and let the two into her room, "The kid needs all the confidence he can get. Never seen someone with such a lack of self-confidence in my life."

"Being Zane Truesdale's little brother must have a lot of pressure." The repeat-year boy offered as he looked around Yuri's room with interest. It had obviously been modified from a standard three-person room to a single-person room, leaving plenty of space for knickknacks and posters, yet none were up. All-in-all, it was a very spartan room.

"Might explain some of it, but not all of it." Yuri said absently as she upended the bag onto the carpet, "He practically jumps at the sight of his own shadow, has zero confidence in his duelling abilities and is a pessimist. Jaden'll hopefully sort that out at some point; the guy's a walking bag of cheer. Wanna help me open these packs?"

"Sure." Alexis nodded.

"I should go and support Syrus." Chumley said with an apologetic look on his face.

"Good idea." Yuri nodded, "Seriously, I'm going to be fine for my duel now I have some raw materials to make my deck from; the weak link here is Syrus and his lack of confidence. Let him know he has my confidence too, ok?"

"Sure!" the large boy beamed and said his goodbyes.

When the door closed, Alexis asked, "Are you really so confident about winning? Crowler isn't going to play fair, you know."

"Of course he isn't." Yuri scoffed as she opened a pack and flicked through the contents, "Thing is, neither am I. Oh, I'm not going to cheat or anything; I'm just going to make sure the odds are in my favour as much as possible. Part of the reason this type of duel is so risky is because I have no idea who it is I'm going to be facing, plus I'll have a further disadvantage in that I'll have a fresh deck. I'll have play-tested it before the duel, but there are always bugs in newly made decks, so I'll have to ask Bastion for a favour."

"Bastion Misawa? The kid who got a perfect score in the written portion of the entry exam?" Alexis asked.

"Yep. His hobby is making deck after deck using mathematical equations." Yuri explained, "I've watched him build a deck in a couple of days that works almost perfectly. If I can get him to look at my new deck, and offer some constructive criticism, it'll make my life so much easier during the duel."

"But you haven't even decided what kind of deck you want to build." Alexis pointed out even as she tore open another pack.

Yuri flicked through more cards before stopping on one, a small grin appearing on her face that hinted of mischief.

"I think I have it…"

 **JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ**

 _The Day of the Duels_

 _Duel Academy Public Duelling Arena_

Yuri fanned her new deck out one last time before shuffling it and placing it in the deck slot of her Duel Disk. She was leaning against the barrier around the outside of the arena, with Alexis, Chumley and Bastion sitting in the front row.

Jaden and Syrus were already standing up on the raised portion of the arena, awaiting the arrival of their opponents. With everything that happened in the last few days, Yuri was surprised they could be so energetic.

The day after the two of them started training for the tag-duel, Jaden had challenged Zane Truesdale, Syrus' older brother and the Number One Duellist at the Academy, to a duel. He had lost, obviously, but had done rather well and had even enjoyed the duel, which had seemed to remind Syrus that duels were for fun, not just for victory.

A few days after that, Chumley's father had come to pull him out of the Academy and had unilaterally forced a duel on him, with his future on the line. Chumley, it turned out, used a deck themed around marsupial-type monsters such as [Death Koala] and [Big Koala]. Sadly, he evidently hadn't known about [Death Koala's] flip effect, so he had taken unnecessary damage because of that.

Chumley had even broken out his most powerful card, the Fusion Monster [Master of Oz] that Jaden had given him. His father had still won thanks to his [Flipping the Table] Magic card, but had allowed Chumley to remain at Duel Academy out consideration to Jaden and Syrus. Yuri had the feeling that his old man was a big softie underneath all those muscles.

"So are you ready?" Alexis asked.

Yuri grinned at her. "I'm confident. Thanks to you helping to build my deck and Bastion fine-tuning it, I think I have a better than average chance of winning."

"I can only work with good material." Bastion demurred graciously, "I only had to make a couple of alterations to provide you the best chance of victory. I must say though that your choice of deck was…intriguing, to say the least."

"Well, let's just say I'm going to make a point to Crowler." The Slifer Red girl replied with an evil look in her eyes, "Speaking of the devil, here he comes now. Let's see what he has planned."

As it turned out, he had hired professional-level duellists in order to rig the match.

"The Brothers Paradox!" Yuri hissed, "Not good. Those two gave Yugi Moto a hard time at Duellist Kingdom! They were two of Maximilian Pegasus' Eliminators!"

The two twin brothers, dressed in Chinese-style martial arts clothing in green and burnt orange, were otherwise identical. She had heard Seto Kaiba refer to them as 'flashy, but not totally incompetent duellists,' which for him was positively effusive praise.

"Will Jaden and Syrus be alright?" Chumley fretted.

"Most of the reason they gave the King of Games trouble was because they were using a duelling field that maximised their advantages and worked for their duelling style." Yuri answered thoughtfully, "They are undoubtedly fine duellists though. I think Jaden and Syrus can handle them though; I haven't heard of them being active much since Duellist's Kingdom."

As the duel started, it became clear that the brothers were indeed very good. Their teamwork had called forth the seven-star monster [Fūjin] on the second brother's first turn. It was easy to see that the brothers were planning on summoning their [Gate Guardian] monster; at least it was for Yuri. Sure enough, with some very good teamwork, the 3750 Attack monster was on the field and blasted Syrus' [Steamroid] off the field in a blast of three elements.

As the duel progressed, it was clear that Syrus was doing his best, but the pressure was getting to him. That, plus the fact that neither of their decks was designed for tag duels, meant that Jaden and Syrus were in a pinch.

Then things changed when Jaden used [Spark Blaster] to turn [Gate Guardian] into defence mode, followed by Syrus played [Drillroid], a card that automatically destroyed any defence position monster it attacked. Although intercepted by a monster with a guard effect, that was in line with Syrus' plan, as he then played the magic card [Shield Crush], which finished off the massive monster.

"I must admit, I didn't see that coming." Bastion admitted.

Thing turned around once again when one of the brothers summoned the [Guardian of Darkness – Dark Guardian], a souped-up version of [Gate Guardian] which couldn't be destroyed in battle. Jaden managed to save Syrus from being wiped out, but it was a close thing. The only good thing to come of that round was that the Brothers' life points dropped to 3500 thanks to the [Dark Element] Magic card used to summon their monster.

Jaden counterattacked with a combo of the three-monster fusion [Elemental Hero – Tempest] and the [Skyscraper] Field Magic Card, but it seemed hopeless…right up until Syrus summoned [UFOroid] and played the powerful [Power Bond] Magic Card, which summoned the [UFOroid Fighter]. It was powerful at 4000 Attack Points, but [Power Bond] doubled its attack to 8000, meaning that when Syrus attacked, it was all over for the Brothers, invincible monster or not.

"They won!" Alexis almost squealed.

"Yup." Yuri grinned lazily, "Good for them. Now it's my turn."

As the paradox Brothers dejectedly left the stage, Jaden and Syrus followed suit, with Yuri meeting them halfway between the stage and the stands.

"Nice work you two." The platinum blond smirked, "Talk about a nail-biting match! You actually had me worried for a moment there."

"Heh! It was cool to have a crack at duellists that the King of Games went up against!" Jaden grinned happily.

"Jay, I almost had a heart attack there!" Syrus protested.

"Ah, it's all in good fun." Jaden slapped his friend on the back in a friendly way.

"Look at Crowler; he looks like he got punched in the solar plexus." Yuri giggled. Indeed, the head of Obelisk Blue looked decidedly unwell.

"Welp, time for my turn to kick butt." She said and exchanged fist-bumps with the pair of them before heading up to the stage.

Crowler fumed as he watched the girl stride confidently up the steps. He had thrown good money at those two and they had lost! So much for those legendary duellists! Hopefully the next one would break this girl into pieces!

Standing up, he smoothed out his Duel Jacket and retook the stage. "Yes, yes, a very… _impressive_ …performance by Jaden Yuuki and Syrus Truesdale." He said reluctantly, "Now we move onto the last duel of the event; Yuri Yamayuri versus her opponent! Come on out!"

Through the archway of the opposite side of the arena from Yuri came a tall man wearing a long dark blue trench coat with the capital letters 'P' and 'K' emblazoned on it. He had turquoise spikey hair wrapped under a bandana and tattoos above and below his eyes. A sinister smirk covered his face as he stomped up to the stage.

"I give you your opponent, Miss Yamayuri; PaniK, the Player Killer of Darkness!" Crowler smirked before scuttling off the stage.

"So, this is my latest prey, is it?" PaniK sneered as he deployed his duel disk, "I will enjoy crushing your spirit."

"After the sound defeat Yugi Moto gave you, I'd have thought you wouldn't be able to show your face in public again, PaniK." Yuri replied calmly as she followed suit.

PaniK's eyes narrowed dangerously at that quip. "Yugi Moto…he shall pay for his temerity. Just as you shall, girl."

"Are you here to duel or are you going to try and talk me to death, Eliminator?" the girl fired back.

In the stand, Bastion's eyes widened at that. "Him! He's like the Paradox Brothers, another one of the Eliminators from Duellist's Kingdom! I've heard tales about him; he specialises in crushing his opponents' spirits at the same time as crushing their decks."

"Another Eliminator…Crowler went all-out to try and get rid of Jaden, Syrus and Yuri…" Alexis narrowed her eyes at PaniK.

"She'll be fine." Jaden asserted from next to her, "I mean, she kicked butt against Titan, and this guy looks as if he's cut from the same cloth."

"Eliminators were ruthless, even compared to Duelling Hitmen, Jaden." Bastion said with a frown, "PaniK was the worst of them all and almost defeated the King of Games himself. This will be no easy match."

"Let's get this duel on the road, PaniK." Yuri said, "I'm a busy girl."

"Yes…we mustn't keep the audience from seeing your crushing defeat." PaniK smirked.

""Duel!""

 **PaniK – 4000**

 **Yuri – 4000**

"Ladies first applies here, don't you think? My move! Draw!" Yuri said and drew her first card, "I'll set a monster on the field in defence mode, then play the Magic Card [Restructure Revolution]! You lose 200 life points per card in your hand!"

Five beams reached out from the card and struck the other duellist's hand, with sparks falling onto the duel disk.

 **PaniK: 4000 – 1000 = 3000**

"You…!" PaniK growled.

"I'll Set two card face down and end my turn there." She finished.

As the holograms of the cards appeared on the field, Syrus frowned. "She does that a lot. Setting monster cards facedown that is."

"It's mostly because quite a few of the weaker Lightsworn monsters that she uses have flip effects." Bastion replied, his eyes still on the duel, "Even though she isn't using her Lightsworn deck, the habit carries on. Plus, it is good to make the opponent wary of attacking."

"My turn! Draw!" PaniK snarled, "I'll play the Magic Card [Terraforming], which allows me to bring a field Magic Card from my deck to my hand! And I'll play it now! Activate, [Yami]!"

As he inserted the card into the slot, a dome of darkness erupted from PaniK, coating the field and all but obscuring Yuri and he from sight.

"And so the showmanship begins." Yuri whispered. She had heard rumours about this man herself, how he enjoyed and delighted in pressuring duellists until they cracked. The key to countering such low tactics was to be cool, calm and collected, not to let anything he said or did get to you. Just like dealing with any run-of-the-mill bully, really.

"Next I'll summon [Gil Garth] in attack mode!" the Ex-Eliminator said with a barely seen smirk. The monster that appeared was a tall humanoid clad in heavy metal full-plate armour and carrying a baroque and heavy-looking katana in one hand.

[Gil Garth] – Attack: 1800 + 200 = 2000

"Cut her defence monster to shreds with [Blade from the Darkness]!"

The metal fiend charged forwards and slammed its sword down at the defence monster, which flipped up to reveal a kneeling man dressed in raged clothes and wielding a hoe, which was used to block the sword cold.

[Oppressed People] – Defence: 2000

"Grrr…lucky card, girl!" PaniK growled, "I'll Set two cards on the field and end my turn!"

"My turn then. Draw!" Yuri said with a smirk, "I'll play the Magic Card [Pot of Greed], which allows me to draw two extra cards. Then I'll activate [Gift of the Weak], which lets me draw two _more_ card as long as I remove a level three or lower monster in my hand from play, like so."

Examining her cards, she smiled. "I'll summon [Marauding Captain] to the field, in attack mode!"

A rough-looking man wearing blue-grey armour appeared on the field wielding two swords.

Marauding Captain – Attack: 1200

"The effect of [Marauding Captain] activates, allowing me to summon another warrior-type monster from my hand…and I choose another [Marauding Captain]!"

A second copy of the monster appeared next to the first.

"Ah. An excellent tactic." Bastion nodded approvingly.

"Why?" Syrus asked.

"As long as two [Marauding Captain's] are face up on the same side of the field, neither can be attacked." The Ra Yellow replied, "Only non-warriors can be targeted by his opponent now."

"I'll lay down another facedown card and end my turn with that." Yuri smirked, "Let's see how you do this time."

PaniK glared at her as he ground out, "My turn! Draw!"

Eyes flickering over his cards and his smirk returned. "I activate the Magic Card [Change of Heart]! I'll take control of your little defence monster for this turn!"

Yuri scowled as her [Oppressed People] monster shifted to PaniK's side of the field.

"I'll then sacrifice it in order to summon my [King of Yamimakai] in attack mode!"

A towering monster with bulging muscles and spikey chitin armour appeared in a blaze of dark energy. Its turquoise head roared as it glared at Yuri balefully.

[King of Yamimakai] – Attack: 2000 + 200 = 2200

"Why'd he choose [Oppressed People]?" Alexis wondered with a frown, "If he wanted to deal damage to her life points, he should have chosen one of the [Marauding Captains]."

"I suspect he has a card in his hand that can eliminate her monsters." Bastion speculated, "[Warrior Elimination] or [Flash of the Forbidden Spell], perhaps. He's letting her have a false sense of security before wiping them out and reducing her life points to zero. He's underestimating her and her deck. Crowler probably told him it's a fresh deck, if not any of the specifics."

"Boy, is he in for a shock." Alexis grinned. She had duelled against this particular deck a couple of times and it wasn't as weak as it first appeared.

"I'll Set another facedown card before I end my turn." PaniK said with that same irritating smirk.

"My turn then. Draw!" Yuri pulled her new card and grinned. "I activate the Magic Card [Graceful Charity]! I draw three cards at the price of having to discard two!"

After doing so, she selected another card. "I summon another [Marauding Captain] into attack mode and use his special ability to call forth [Command Knight] in attack mode!"

A female monster wearing red armour with ornamented wings, a purple cape and wielding a sword appeared on the field next to the three [Marauding Captains]

Command Knight – Attack: 1200 + 400 = 1600

"[Command Knight's] special ability grants all warrior-type monsters on my side of the field 400 extra attack points." Yuri said with a smile.

[Marauding Captain] X3 – Attack: 1200 + 400 = 1600

"All of them pale in comparison to Gil Darth] and [King of Yamimakai]!" PaniK scoffed.

"True enough…until now." The girl said, "I activate one of my facedown cards…[Aqua Chorus]!"

A card popped up of a redheaded woman with her hands clasped before her, with ghostly figures behind her.

"[Aqua Chorus] only works if there are multiple monsters with the same name on the field." She explained, "It raises all those monster's attacks by 500!"

[Marauding Captain] X3 – Attack: 1600 + 500 = 2100

"What?!" PaniK jerked in disbelief. She had raised three weak, useless monsters into ones strong enough to take down his powered up [Gil Garth]!

"And I'm just getting started!" Yuri said with a savage grin, "[Marauding Captain] number one, take down [Gil Garth] with [Twin Sword Assault]!"

[Marauding Captain] (Attack: 2100) vs [Gil Garth] (Attack: 2000)

The first [Marauding Captain] she summoned leapt forth and swung both of his blades down, bisecting the armoured fiend-type in an explosion of pixels.

 **PaniK – 3000 – 100 = 2900**

"I think that's enough damage for one turn." The girl said cockily, "Over to you."

"My turn. Draw!" the Eliminator spat out angrily, "I activate the Magic Card [Kozaky's Dark Experiment]! By removing one monster card in my graveyard from play and discarding a card from my hand, I can fuse two fiend-type monsters from my deck into a fiend-type Fusion Monster without the need for [Polymerisation], although it cannot attack on this turn. Come forth, [Barox]!"

A hideous blue monster with light brown fur appeared, clawed hands crossed and ravening maw open, revealing long fangs.

[Barox] – Defence: 1530 + 200 = 1730

"That…doesn't seem worth it." Syrus said with a frown.

"That's because it isn't." a voice said, making all of the kids turn to see a frowning Zane Truesdale watching the duel intently.

"Zane!" Syrus looked a bit worried at the sudden appearance of his brother.

"There is no possible way for him to use that monster as anything other than fodder for Yuri's monsters if this is all he intends to do with it." The Academy Champion continued, "As it is, he isn't finished."

"I now activate my continuous trap card, [Fusion Duplication Device]!" PaniK continued, "When a monster is Fusion Summoned, my device creates a copy of it. Come on out, [Barox Token]!"

An exact duplicate of [Barox] appeared with identical Attack and Defence Points.

"I now sacrifice [Barox] and [Barox Token] in order to summon [Evil King of Yamimakai's Darkness]!" the Eliminator said gloatingly.

Both of the [Barox] monsters exploded into darkness and a new monster stood in their places. It looked similar to the [King of Yamimakai], except more powerful. It had four arms and two heads, with darkness radiating in an aura from it.

[Evil King of Yamimakai's Darkness] – Attack: 2500 + 200 = 2700 Defence: 2000 + 200 = 2200

"That's one powerful card!" Syrus gasped.

"I can only summon [Evil King of Yamimakai's Darkness] when I have both [King of Yamimakai] and [Yami] active on the field." PaniK informed Yuri, "And when he is summoned, my opponent loses 200 life points per monster card they have on the field, so you lose 800 life points! Go [Dark Haunting]!"

[Evil King of Yamimakai's Darkness] blasted Yuri with a beam of darkness that struck at her Dual Disk and made her flinch.

 **Yuri: 4000 – 800 = 3200**

"Additionally, when I use that ability, I can add one magic card from my deck to my hand." He continued, "I now activate that card, [Dark Palace of Yamimakai]!"

Behind him, a large baroque building appeared, multiple spires reaching up to the top of the arena's ceiling. Numerous statues of various fiend-type monsters could be seen on its battlements and a feeling of dread could be felt coming from the palace.

"While my [Dark Palace of Yamimakai] is on the field, I can either draw as normal or I can bring any four-star or lower fiend type monster to my hand." PaniK said, "Additionally, all my monsters receive an extra 200 Attack Points!"

[King of Yamimakai] – Attack: 2200 + 200 = 2400

[Evil King of Yamimakai's Darkness] – Attack: 2700 + 200 = 2900

"That might be a challenge." Yuri observed. She was a bit startled that he had improved his deck to this level. He would have had to have changed it now that Duellist Kingdom Rules were obsolescent and Battle City-style rules were prominent, but to have improved it to this extent…

"I'll end my turn there…for now."

"My turn here…draw!" Yuri said. She added her new card to her hand and ran through her options. Like Bastion, she had figured out PaniK's plan the moment he chose [Oppressed People] rather than one of her [Marauding Captains]. It suited her just fine, as it gave her more time to get all the pieces of the puzzle together for her victory. She had underestimated him in return, though. Live and learn.

"Do you know what the theme of my deck is, PaniK?" she asked.

"Your deck's theme? Who cares?" he sneered.

Yuri wasn't bothered by his put-down. "To look at it, it's of brave knights, defending the kingdom from dark invaders. Now that the demon king has shown his face, the knight stand no chance…and summon a hero to strike him down."

Looking him in the eyes, she continued, "I sacrifice all three of my [Marauding Captains] in order to summon [Gilford the Lightning]!"

All three of her lesser knights vanished, revealing a lone, heavily muscled, figure in their place. Crackling with lightning over his armour and skin, with an immense broadsword sheathed over his shoulder, the new monster just oozed power and confidence.

[Gilford the Lightning] – Attack: 2800 + 400 = 3200

"Th-Three-thousand two-hundred attack points?!" PaniK cried in disbelief.

"And that is only the start." Yuri smirked, "I could have summoned him with o0nly two sacrifices, but by sacrificing three, I activate his special ability. When summoned via three sacrifices, he can destroy all monsters on my opponent's side of the field."

"WHAT?!" was the reaction of all the watching students and PaniK as well.

"If she wipes out his monsters and attack his life points directly, she'll win!" Jaden cheered, "Sweet!"

"[Gilford the Lightning], use your power and wipe the field clear of his monsters!" Yuri ordered, "Use [Lightning Strike Banquet]!"

Drawing his immense blade one-handed, the warrior raised it up and the lightning from his body gathered on the blade, becoming a glowing yellow colour. Then, with a single slash, he brought his blade down, unleashing it in two massive bolts that smote [King of Yamimakai] and [Evil King of Yamimakai's Darkness] simultaneously, destroying them.

"My monsters! No!" the Eliminator roared in fury.

"Your monsters, yes." Yuri sneered at him, "Your field is now wide open for an attack. [Gilford], attack his life points directly, and end this farce!"

As her strongest card charged forwards, PaniK hit a button on his Duel Disk. "Reveal facedown card, [Fires of Doomsday]!"

PaniK's second-from-last facedown card flipped up, revealing a pair of vaguely humanoid figures made out of bluish-black fire that appeared on the field.

[Doomsday Token] – Defence: 0

"That's your last resort? Seriously?" Yuri was irked that she was being blocked by a pair of fireballs that even a [Hinotama Soul] could extinguish easily, "[Gilford], [Command Knight], cut those flames down to size!"

With a sword cut each, the two Token Monsters vanished, leaving PaniK's field wide open, barring [Fusion Duplication Device] and a single facedown card.

"I'll set one card facedown and end my turn there." Yuri said with a scowl.

"My turn. Draw!" PaniK snarled, "I activate [Card of Sanctity], meaning we both draw until we hold six cards in our hands. Then I activate the final effect of the [Evil King of Yamimakai's Darkness] in my graveyard. When in the graveyard, I can remove it from play to summon two four-star fiend-type monsters from my graveyard or deck. Come out, [Baron of the Fiend Sword] and [The Gross Ghost of Fled Dreams]!"

Two monsters appeared on PaniK's field. One was a portly tusked humanoid wearing a full tuxedo and carrying a malicious-looking sword. The other was a bed with a ghostly, emancipated figure looming over it carrying a scimitar and shield.

[Baron of the Fiend Sword] – Attack: 1550 + 200 = 1750

[The Gross Ghost of Fled Dreams] – Attack: 1300 + 200 = 1500

"Next, I activate this Magic Card, [Transmigration of the Darkness]. In order to activate it, I have to remove from play a [King of Yamimakai] from my hand, field or graveyard, as well as sacrifice monsters equalling eight stars in total. Begone, my monsters!" PaniK declared.

In an explosion of darkness, the two fiends vanished and a black portal appeared in their place.

"Now emerge! [Dark Spirit King of Yamimakai]!" PaniK called, and a massive figure emerged from the black portal. After a moment, the darkness shrouding it vanished, revealing a supersized version of the previous two [King of Yamimakai] monsters. Its fanged maw dripped with poison and its heavily muscled arms, all six of them, ended in five clawed fingers that were as sharp as any sword. A long, sinuous tail lashed behind it and a pair of bat-like wings were tucked against its back.

[Dark Spirit King of Yamimakai] – Attack: 2800 + 400 = 3200

"While [Spirit King of Yamimakai] is on the field, all Light Attribute monsters lose 500 Attack Points, which means your [Gilford] is weakened!" he gloated.

[Gilford the Lightning] – Attack: 3200 – 500 = 2700

"Now [Dark Spirit King of Yamimakai]! Attack [Guilford the Lightning] with [Bolt of True Darkness]!" PaniK ordered.

"Why isn't he attacking [Command Knight]?" Syrus wondered.

"Because you can't attack [Command Knight] as long as the owning player has one or more monster aside from it on the field." Bastion replied with a frown, "A good card indeed…but I cannot see how this duel will play out once Yuri loses her strongest monster card."

[Dark Spirit King of Yamimakai] (Attack: 3200) vs. [Gilford the Lightning] (Attack: 2700)

Between the six mighty hands, a massive ball of darkness gathered and was fired at [Gilford] at breakneck speeds, obliterating the warrior.

 **Yuri: 3200 – 500 = 2700**

"Now PaniK's in the lead!" Chumley fretted.

"That," Yuri stated dryly, "was a mistake."

Infuriated by her seeming unflappability, PaniK scowled at her. "I'll set one card facedown and end my turn."

"My turn. Draw!" Yuri said. She mentally catalogued the cards she had in her graveyard and smiled.

"First off, I summon [United Resistance] in attack mode!" she slapped a monster onto the field, emerging as a man in a homespun tunic and cape, with a steel sword clutched in one hand.

[United Resistance] – Attack: 1000

"What's that going to do?" Syrus wondered.

Bastion and Alexis were smirking though.

"She's making her move." The Queen of Obelisk Blue said knowingly.

"Next, I activate the Magic Card [Tri-Wight], which allows me to select three level two or lower monsters in my graveyard and summon them to the field!" the platinum blond girl said, "Return, [Oppressed People]! Emerge, [People Running About]!"

The man with the hoe from Yuri's first turn returned, and two blond men in a tunic and trousers, carrying umbrellas emerged on the other side of [United Resistance].

[Oppressed People] – Defence: 2000

[People Running About] X2 – Attack: 600 + 500 = 1100

"Hah! You spent all that time summoning weak monsters like that?" PaniK scoffed, "They pale by comparison to my [Dark Spirit King of Yamimakai]!"

"Remember the theme I talked about before? Of brave knights fighting evil outside the kingdom?" Yuri asked, "Well the evil infiltrated the kingdom in the second part of our story and possessed the king, turning him into a tyrant. So now, the people themselves must fight against evil...and I will aid them with this trap card! Reveal facedown card [Huge Revolution]!"

As the card flipped up, the three monsters in the centre of her field moved to mimic the picture. [United Resistance] raised his sword, [Oppressed People] raise his hoe and the closest [People Running About] raised his umbrella, the three implements crossing in the centre.

"' _They are oppressed but believe they will obtain their freedom someday._ '" Yuri quoted from the cards flavour text, "' _Although they suffer in silence, they swear an oath to eventually revolt._ ' ' _The people who gather to fight their oppressors. A revolution is coming._ ' In order to use [Huge Revolution], I need to have [Oppressed People], [People Running About] and [United Resistance] on the field. When activated, my opponent must discard their entire hand and every card on their side of the field, monster, magic and trap, is sent to the graveyard!"

"NO!" PaniK roared as a shining beam of light from the three weak monsters struck him and every card on his field, shattering them. He growled as he sent all of his cards to the graveyard, even as the [Palace of Yamimakai] crumbled behind him and the darkness of the [Yami] Field Magic Card faded.

"You haven't won yet! One of my facedown cards was [Statue of the Wicked]! Come forth, [Wicked Token]!"

A snake-like monster made of gold appeared, coiled up and with its arms crossed.

[Wicked Token] – Defence: 1000

"This duel is _over_!" Yuri growled, "[People Running About], attack his [Wicked Token] with [Anger of the People]!"

The [Wicked Token] was treated to what it was like to be struck offensively with an umbrella. It was rather amusing to watch as it shattered into pieces.

"[People Running About] number two, attack!"

 **PaniK: 2900 – 1100 = 1800**

"[Command Knight], you next!"

 **PaniK: 1800 – 1600 = 200**

"No, this cannot be! _PaniK doesn't lose!_ " the Eliminator wailed.

"Believe it, PaniK. I win, you lose. That's the way this duel was _always_ going to end up!" Yuri said with a smirk, "[United Resistance], finish him off!"

The blade-wielding revolutionary darted in and cut down across PaniK with his weapon, a look of satisfaction on his face.

 **PaniK: 200 – 1000 = -800**

 **Yuri: Victorious!**

As the duel holograms vanished, Yuri smirked as she collapsed her Duel disk. PaniK had fallen to his knees, a look of disbelief on his face. He had honestly never thought, ever even _imagined_ , that he could lose to her.

"Later, PaniK." She said as she turned around and started down the stairs, "Thanks for helping me stay in school."

" _You will pay for this!_ " he hissed just loud enough for her to hear, " _Do you hear me girl?_ _ **No one defeats PaniK!**_ "

Yuri paused and looked back at him over her shoulder, "All I hear is the whining and barking of a sore loser. Not something worth being concerned over."

Her piece said, she turned around and headed for her friends, leaving a fuming PaniK behind. After all, she had a victory to celebrate!

Chancellor Shepard smiled approvingly. These duels had taught important lessons to the Slifer Reds taking part in them, as well as most of the other students who had watched them. Despite Crowler hiring professional duellists, he agreed with the reasoning he had been given. They had to face opponents that made the threat of expulsion very real, and he had to say that the Paradox Brothers and PaniK had driven the point home nicely. He doubted they'd risk expulsion by breaking curfew again.

Crowler was aghast. Not one, not two, but _three_ legendary duellists had been beaten by those Slifer Slackers! This was an unmitigated disaster, but at least the Chancellor seemed happy and wasn't asking him about them.

'That does it! No more Mr. Nice-Guy!' Crowler thought. From here-on-out, the gloves were coming off!

Jaden Yuuki and Yuri Yamayuri! You had better prepare yourselves!

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 **Next Chapter: Enter Blair, the Maiden in Love!**

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